SITA ran a pilot project for telemedicine for the Limpopo Department of Health. Subsequently, the department decided to implement telemedicine in a total of 14 sites, where SITA assisted with connectivity and related project management.
During the reregistration of beneficiaries, more than 150,000 social grants were cancelled resulting in a saving of R150m a year, the minister said in her budget vote speech in Parliament.
She said 20.7-million people had been successfully reregistered in the new system. This figure included both the beneficiaries of social assistance, which now extended to more than 16-million beneficiaries (of which 11-million were children) as well as people who did not themselves receive grants but who were registered to receive them on behalf of others — such as mothers, care-givers or procurators.
Read more: ZA: Biometric system for social grants ‘helps save R150m a year’
The World Economic Forum (WEF) released its Global Information Technology Report 2013 on 10 April, revealing that South Africa is performing above average when it comes to ICT infrastructure and digital content.
The Global Information Technology Report 2013 features the latest results of the Networked Readiness Index (NRI), offering an overview of the current state of ICT readiness in the world.
Read more: South Africa’s ICT infrastructure surprisingly good
The ever-increasing demand for ICT skills can be partially met by a strong business focus on staff training and ‘up-skilling’, says Robert Sussman, joint CEO of Integr8.
The exponential growth of ICT is not only driving demand for sufficient numbers in existing skills, but is also creating the need for new skills. Sussman explains that in order for businesses to fully capitalise on technologies such as cloud, virtualisation, mobility and big data, new skill sets are needed to help businesses utilise these trends to their full potential.
The event was one of many held around the world to expose high school girls to role models and encourage them to consider careers in ICT. More than 140 schoolgirls attended the event in Johannesburg.