1. The Strategy and Tactics Document of the ANC (1997), the party that leads Government says that "the central aim of transformation is to improve the conditions of the people, especially the poor."

Poverty is cited as the single greatest burden of South Africa’s people. Attacking poverty and deprivation is therefore the first priority of the democratic Government.

2. The strategy, as outlined in the Reconstruction and Development Policy Framework Document and which informs our approach in Government rests on four pillars:

• Creating opportunities for all South Africans to develop their full potential
• Boosting production and household income through job creation and productivity
• Improving living conditions through better access to basic physical and social services, health care and education for rural and urban communities
• Establishing a social security system to protect the poor, the disabled, the elderly and other vulnerable groups.

1. Attacking poverty, therefore and bridging the gap between all South Africans in the two economies, lies at the heart and centre of all of Government’s policies and programmes. Our overriding strategic goal is to ensure that we create a better life for all that will enable people to lead a dignified and fulfilling culturally creative existence that will make us all "Proudly South African."

 

 

The Call for Speedy Delivery:

2. Arising from this all sectors of Government are challenged to develop policy and implement programmes that will give appropriate application to this vision. As the Minister has outlined the President in his State of the Nation address has issued a clarion call for all levels of Government to fast track implementation and the delivery of services under its command.
3. The Minister has also informed you that in preparation for this execution the Department of Communications has undergone a major re-engineering exercise and has come out with a strategic implementation plan that has redefined its mandate, revamped its structures and re-organized its working processes identifying its key performance areas and outputs in a determined push to guarantee accelerated delivery for this sector.
4. The Strategic Planning Workshop took its lead from various strategic directives as contained in the President’s State of the Nation address, the Cabinet Legotla and the overwhelming electoral mandate given, to redefine the mandate of the DOC

as

"To create a favorable ICT environment that ensures that South Africa has the capacity to advance its socio economic development goals, to support the renewal of Africa and to create a better world."

5. In line with this mandate the Workshop revised the vision and mission statements of the DoC as follows:

9. The Minister further outlined the programme for the current period covering the International arena and activities domestically in the Telecommunications, Broadcasting and Postal Services arenas. It is clear from her outline that the work for the present fiscal year builds on the foundation and successes of the past 10 years and the lessons learnt from those experiences thereby building a focus of further progression in the sector.
10. The framework for the programme clearly establishes our focus on ICT Strategies to stimulate economic growth and the role ICT’s can play in supporting poverty alleviation.

9. Our redefined Vision and Mission statements impose on us the responsibility to grasp the importance and role played by ICT’s in the world given the context of the globalization. In a chapter dealing with Globalization: Its nature and impact, The World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globilization, in its report entitled ‘A Fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for All’ states that

"It is widely accepted that the key characteristic of globalization has been the liberalization of international trade, the expansion of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the emergence of massive cross border financial flows, resulting in increased competition in global markets. It is widely acknowledged that this has come about through the combined effect of two underlying factors: policy decisions to reduce national barriers to international economic transactions and the impact of new technology, especially in the sphere on information and communications."

ICT’s have reduced the natural barriers of time and space. The cost of moving information, people, goods and capital across the globe has fallen dramatically making global communications cheaper and instantaneous. This has expanded economic transactions across the world. Markets are now global in scope and embrace an expanding range of goods and services, expanding world trade phenomenally.

10. The report states that the most dramatic element of globalization over the past two decades has been the rapid integration of financial markets. "The world monetary system underwent three revolutions all at once: deregulation, internationalization and innovation. Financial liberalization created the environment for expanded capital mobility. But the increase in capital flows was greatly boosted by the revolution in ICT. This made possible the improved and speedier knowledge of foreign markets and the development of "round the world and round the clock" financial transactions.
11. The source of this technological revolution was the industrialized countries. This technology made knowledge an important factor of production and the knowledge intensive and hi-tech industries the fastest growing sectors of the global economy.

Making it necessary for countries wanting to be economically successful to enter and compete in these sectors. ICT therefore have played an enormous role in the reorganization of transnational trade and the movement of FDI capital.

12. Given this important global context the DoC is very conscious of the responsibility it carries to ensure that South Africa remains abreast of the latest developments and thinking in the ICT sector. The DoC has the responsibility to keep at the leading edge of the new wave of technological advancement in the sector.

We are also conscious that as we leapfrog into the future we will do so as part of the greater objective of the African Renaissance.We will contribute our fair share to the establishment of an enabling environment for collaboration and co-operation in harnessing ICT’s for Africa’s development.

Towards ICT Policies that are Pro-Poor and Pro-Women:

13. At a recent workshop of International experts in ICT held at the Harvard Forum

• the establishment of urgent and wider access to ICT by larger numbers of

• The importance of ICT Governance and Regulatory reform
• The creation of social entrepreneurs that would provide services and

• The need for ICT alliances for gender equality , education , health and democracy

In so doing the following propositions are fundamental to our implementation programme and justifies our expenditure spend in the proposed budget:

5. Digitization and Digital Migration: Modernisation of the Communications Infrastructure

6. Democratization, Transformation and Reconstruction

• Provision of Basic Services and Widening Service Options:

• Broadcasting Services: Facilitating the Emergence of a New Nation

• Media Transformation and Diversity (Advertising and Marketing )
• Reconstruction of Social Perspectives: GCIS
• Reconstruction of International Perspectives: Mobilizing International

• Reconstruction and Transformation of the Postal Services:

3. Exercising Political Oversight and Accountability to the People

1. Facilitating a Collaborative Partnership with Stakeholders

• State Owned Enterprises (SOE’s)
• Industry Players
• Community and People Participation
• Civil Society Formations

1. Listening to the Plurality of Voices in our Society
2. Creating Greater Consensus: Implementing a Vision of a Caring and sharing society

Madam Speaker and Honorable Members of the House the Department is fully cognizant of the enormous responsibility it carries in ensuring that we secure the benefits and advantages of the first world economy and harness this to transform the disadvantage and address the 3^rd World inequalities that characterize the second economy.

There can be no doubt that what is needed is a social partnership between the privileged and the poor for the building of a caring and sharing society.

We have to put technology at the centre of a people driven and development centered process if we are to succeed.

We give our assurance that we will not be distracted from such a commitment nor flinch from our duty.

I thank you.