Our intention is to become the top performing province, communicating with and understanding and delivering on the needs of our citizens,” said Ace Magashule.
ICT is seen as the enabler for growth, sustainability and development in this country and communication, connectivity, education, mobility and rapid economic development were common threads running through the Free State government’s 2015 ICT summit.
Over 1 500 delegates from across the country participated, including a notable number of government dignitaries and captains of industry; the depth in South Africa’s ICT industry was evident.
The provincial government’s head of planning and governance, Thuso Ramaema, chaired the meeting; his opening address and summaries of desired outcomes throughout the event were concise and erudite.
“Inputs from this summit need to be consolidated into a provincial strategy and it is vital we put our shoulders to the wheel to make this strategy happen to realise the benefits for our citizens,” said Ramaema. “Representatives from various companies are here to enhance the process with their knowledge in this era of the knowledge economy, not to compete.”
Connectivity is not particularly helpful if limited to those already connected, and robust discussion was encouraged to develop a remedial programme to address this.
The primary objective of the summit was, according to Ramaema, the intention to give leadership and direction to all stakeholders in the province and to determine the ICT strategy of the Free State government.
Advance research
Featuring strongly was uplifting small and medium enterprises, with a key requirement for research into local ICT suppliers.
“Technology is not change,” said Ramaema. “If we want to be people equal in the world, we need to invest in ICT and have the ability to access and advance research, particularly on matters bearing to the economy.”
Projects such as connecting schools and providing access to the internet to the poorest communities for the development of the province were seen as essential. Development of partnerships and helping the youth through job creation was hoped to raise the Free State to a competitive level with Gauteng.
Information security was prominent and in the opening, the electronic national administration traffic information system (eNaTIS) was used as an example — should it collapse or become corrupted, it would have a catastrophic impact.
Ramaema said that there had been some fundamental challenges, one of which was resources. “Bit by bit we can go around the Free State and make it a better place, with relationships between government and the private sector enabling us to bridge the digital divide. Everything linked to ICT must mean efficiency, reliability and effectiveness.”