Speech by Honourable Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Prof Hlengiwe Mkhize, MP, at the occasion of GovTech-2014 hosted by SITA
Theme: The South African Government's e-Strategy
Chairperson of the Govtech-2014 event
Honourable Minister of Telecommunication and Postal Services
Honourable Premier of Kwazulu-Natal
Honourable Mayor of eThekwini
Leaders of the ICT industry and State-Owned Companies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Introduction
Colleagues and friends, this GovTech conference gives us an opportunity to use the commemoration of 20 years of freedom and democracy by also asking penetrating questions about the unfinished business of restoring our people's human dignity. We have to ask ourselves how the IT revolution, characterized by the abundance of technologies, have changed the quality of people's lives and advanced our course of creating an inclusive information society.
World trends on e-Government
The global village has put the use of technology at the centre of the development agenda. Maybe an appropriate assertion is that technology migration is setting the agenda. The IT agenda is characterised by, amongst others the following:
- Increasing expectation for easier access to more public information and public services from anywhere, anytime through multiple channels or citizen touch-points.
- Increase in Digital Channels by almost all countries
- All 193 UN Member States have some form of online presence
- Access to Internet is on the increase.
- Increase in SMS notification via mobile devices,
- Over 1.5 billion smart phones in use globally; growing exponentially.
- Mobile apps and mobile portals doubled to almost 50 countries (for poverty eradication, gender equality, social inclusion, economic development).
- Rapid increase in Social media; 50 per cent rise in 2014, so that today 118 countries use it for e-consultation and 70 for e-government generally.
- Increasing use of public kiosks from 24 countries in 2012 to 36 in 2014.
Comparative Trends in Terms of the Use of ICTs
As developing countries, we have to constantly compare progress made against other countries with similar goals against our GDP
- According to the United Nations e-Government Development Index, South Africa’s e-Government ranking has been on a steady decline over the past decade – from position 43 in 2003 down to position 101 in 2012 in the World.
- The good news is, according to the latest UN report (August 2014) South Africa has improved by 8 positions to a ranking of 93 with an e-Government Development Index (EGDI) of 0.4869.
- SA EGDI score is on the top of the middle-EDGI group in Africa – placing us in 6th position in Africa, just behind the high-EDGI group, Morocco (5th) , Seychelles (4th), Egypt (3rd), Mauritius (2nd) and Tunisia (1st))]
SITA has certainly a good story to tell during its 15th-year anniversary as this agency has a role as the strategic efficiency enabler of the complex Machinery of Government.
SITA's Successes in the past 15 years:
Our democratic government quickly learned, to not only broaden the scope of service delivery across all segments of society, in an equitable way , but also to embrace information technology as a critical element of development, inclusive growth and innovation for the information society. Hence we can talk to successes such as,
- Hosting Transversal Systems including Personnel and Salary (PERSAL) System and Basic Accounting System (BAS) in the data centres that provides payment of Public Servant Salaries as well as Creditors via EFT for the past 15 years;
- Processing all Matric results and certificates in collaboration with DBE (approximately 562 000 per year)
- Set and Certify Interoperability Standards of Government systems and technology to ensure different systems are able to connect and exchange data with each other.
- Managing and Hosting the Presidential Hot-line to promote Citizen participation on improving public service delivery
Gov-Tech's series of annual events, is an important platform for international experts, government and industry leaders to exchange ideas and reflect on ICT solutions for the future. The chosen themes for each year tells a story in our long walk to a technology enabled government system of service delivery. In 2011 focus was on Connect - referring to the connected government and
the fact that when working together more can be achieved, in 2012 the focus was on Collaborate - putting emphasis on focusing on ICT collaboration across and beyond government departments and in 2013 the focus was on Innovate - where you talked about expanding the idea of technology for 21st century government. Now in 2014 you have chosen your theme to be: "Government Empowered
by Technology".
Technology revolution is part of a policy revolution of creating effective government systems. From a policy formulation point of view, more and more government is determined to work in coordinated and integrated manner. A good example is the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC) which is a platform for government departments in all spheres of governance to cooperate in the infrastructure build and to take a critical look at financial implications from a common platform .As a result we have an estimate of our needs that they are in the range of about 4 trillion. When it comes to the ICT needs of government, the intention is to implement the ICT infrastructure project, commonly known as SIP 15, within the PICC SIPs which are of today sitting at 18, addressing different aspects, touching on issues such as water, energy, environment and so on. Within the PICC model, government has an opportunity to articulate ICT needs for all spheres of government and applications which could be shared by different departments.
The National Development Plan (NDP vision 2030) calls on us to make sure that ICTs underpin the development of a dynamic and connected Information Society. The Gov-Tech platform is ideal for visualizing the spirit of the NDP in the sense that it is a shared platform amongst government, the private sector and social partners.
Both our National Development Plan and our broadband policy, SA Connect, recognize the importance of the Telecommunication infrastructure (Broadband Connectivity) as well as the electronic service delivery (e-Government) as crucial enablers to among others stimulate economic growth, including job creation, and industrialization. We also have a legacy project coming out of the 2010 World Cup, which is focusing on school connectivity and through our broadband penetration we are connecting not only schools but critical frontline service structures like health clinics, police stations and our magistrates courts.
e-Governance Structures
The Department will lead the establishment and oversight of the inter-departmental e-Government governance structure by
(1) ensuring that the e-Government Policy and Regulatory Portfolio are aligned with the Government Agenda and MTEF;
(2) coordinate and secure e-Government programme commitments across departments;
(3) initiate the change management programme across departments, through a skills development programme.
Our SA Connect Policy, places the Department in a position to coordinate and support the targets to achieve 100% broadband penetration by 2020 as well as transforming 70% of all front-line service to e-Service by 2019.
Through the four strategic pillars of this policy, which are: digital readiness, digital development, digital future and digital opportunity the department will develop a citizen, business and government oriented e-strategy. The strategy will be geared towards creating an integrated government platform which will have a single view of the citizen. Electronic applications which can be created through this strategy includes, but not limited to the following:
- e-Agriculture: this is used for processes such as soil testing to ensure quality, determine whether trends, track stock theft and also be able to determine stock prices in the fresh produce market;
- e-Procurement: Implementation of Broadband Policy, SA Policy people will be connected irrespective of their geographic location and gain access to electronic information and services such as online tendering. All procurement services and processes will be automated to get rid of the delays which might arise and exclusion of rural entrepreneurs. Technology should bring the spheres of government much closer to each other making processes such as centralized procurement system a reality. The government can save a lot on costs if all the critical procurement are processed centrally.
- e-Maritime: this is the automation of maritime biological life;
- e-Weather: these are the services which enable citizens to get electronic whether updates where ever they are.
- e-Villages: our villages can be improved by making use of the electronic services.
- e-Rural Development: our endeavors towards rural development will get a real boost if we could bring in an electronic element towards their development.
- e-Emergency services: some provinces experience a number of emergencies at a time and this service will ensure the swift handling of these emergencies
- e-Environment: this can be used to track recent trends in climate change and help us to get on track with the global trends.
- e-Health: the citizens stand to benefit more with the health services available to them readily on a digital platform.
- e-Safety and Security: given where we are as a country, it is the time we stopped talking of lost files at our police stations and delays of court cases because of the lost dockets. Technology helps us in filing these documents saving us enormous amounts of space and giving us the assurance that our files are safely kept.
- e-support for women empowerment: our women should equally benefit from the wealth of opportunities presented by the ICT sector. We are well aware that a large majority of secondary school learners fails to reach proficiency in maths and science; the situation is particularly challenging for girls. The value of programmes such as the Techno-Girl where the participation of girls in careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths increased and enhanced cannot be underestimated.
- e-learning: covering both basic education and higher education. The use of ICT to enhance learning should be at all stages of our education system starting from preschool. Other preschools are already implementing this.
- Youth patriotism and national pride: We compel people to move quickly towards inviting and attracting the youth in the direction of using technology as a tool to nation building. ICTs can be used to restore our national pride and encourage youth patriotism. Our youth can be sent to a one year military training and technology development programme before going to university to instill critical values and principles that will determine how they position themselves in the current technological milieu and the future. This will also give us an opportunity to teach our youth on ICTs and on how ICT can be used to improve lives.
- e-infrastructure: African countries need to focus on building human capital, including ICT literacy and on bridging infrastructure gaps to provide an enabling environment for e-government development. Visionary strategies and practical implementation plans should follow for effective deployment of sustainable online services.
- Internet: The future of our technology is about access and data management. The internet of things as they talk about it, is the culminations of technologies within the information society to access volumes of information with speed through all our services points including our postal services and banking services.
- Cybersecurity: This is a shared responsibility. Our way of life is more and more moving towards depending on critical infrastructure and the digital technology that operates it, cybersecurity should be regarded as one of our country’s most important national security priorities, and we each have a role to play.
- e-Financial Services: automation of our financial services can help us serve our impoverished under-served rural areas through agencies such as the Post Office. There are some countries which have succeeded in positioning the Post Office to offer financial services such as issuing of travelers cheque and other critical financial services.
- e-Commerce: the registering of businesses online will improve the turn around time between the registering of a business and the actual existence of a company. A one stop electronic shop where small businesses will be registered and also be registered for various statutory requirements will reduce the transaction costs of doing business. As we embrace the knowledge economy of this modern era, we recognize that Citizens demand better, convenient and open access to Government Services and the ICT Industry, including SMMEs, demand more active participation in the economy.
- The far-reaching goal of implementing these e-services is to ensure that broadband and ICTs are included among the sustainable development goals of the post 2015 developmental agenda as the follow up to the Millennium Development Goals. This will also be in support of the agenda of the International Telecommunications Union which held their Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, South Africa. The Plenipotentiary Conference was held from the 20 October 2014 and it will end on 07 November 2014. Some of the critical issues discussed here were:
- Internet related public policy issues
- Confidence and security in the use of ICTs (Cybersecurity)
- Child Online Protection and access to illegal information on the Internet
- Stable ITU Constitution, including Definitions e.g. ICT, telecommunications
- The ITU Strategic Plan 2016-2019 and the Financial Plan of the Union for 2016-2019
- ITU Transparency and public access to the ITU documents
- WSIS and review processes including WSIS+10 and 2015
- Role of Standardization and the ITU
Engagements in this high level platform is critical for our country and us as the government especially if we want to see ourselves as a technically empowered government.
To improve the uptake of Citizen centric e-Government, we should pay closer attention to the trends and key findings of the UN Report that are relevant to a developing country, like South Africa.
e-Government in Africa (and developing Countries)
- E-Government progress in Africa remains relatively slow and uneven.
- Only Six countries (Tunisia, Mauritius, Egypt, Seychelles, Morocco and South Africa) are above the world average of 0.4712.
- Governments may need to play a greater role in
- navigating effective policies to reduce access costs for mobile broadband;
- support private collaboration;
- encourage innovative business models that drive employment such as micro-work and outsourcing;
- and support ICT entrepreneurship.
- Connectivity and digital divide issues should also be given more attention in the region.
- Although e-government trends incline toward mobile and social media, policymakers must focus on more fundamental level of e-Government.
Critical Success factors for post 2015 e-Government
- strong political will
- collaborative leadership
- new governance frameworks to support and manage a citizen centric service delivery model
- strengthening institutions and building the capacities of public servants.
- Commitments to collaboration, openness, transparency, accountability and participation in national public governance
- A robust ICT infrastructure,
- Adequate human capital
- Online service delivery
Connection of Other Government Institutions
As a government we have started after the 2010 World Cup to connect schools ensuring internet presence even in the most rural areas. The National Health Insurance pilot project is now used as an opportunity to not only connect hospitals but to expand the connectivity to schools and police stations. The main aim is to provide broadband connectivity to other government institutions that are located in the same districts as the hospitals and clinics. The first phase of this project is nearing finality and R20 million has been allocated in the current financial year.
Radio Frequency Spectrum
Government should study various spectrum allocation models to ensure that even poor under-served communities are connected.
Spectrum should serve as an opportunity for innovation and also be used efficiently to drive the developmental agenda.
Radical Economic Transformation
The government has in the past and continues to deploy a range of complimentary and integrated measure to grow the economy and create jobs. We have seen this through the creation of policy documents such as the (Industrial Policy Action Plan)IPAP and interventions such as the creation of Industrial Development Zone (IDZ). A critical tool such as the ICT R&D and Innovation Roadmap which was approved by Cabinet in 2012 should be used to help create a basis for software skills and capability development. The designation of South Africa as host for the majority part of the Square Kilometer Array has increased the importance of areas such as high speed data networks to Europe and large data storage and handling. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), must be attracted into our country by incentives such as those offered at our IDZs. We should not only be consumers of these electronics but manufacturers as well. There should be a coordinated approach from both the private and public sector to ensure the radical economic transformation that we always talk about.
Conclusion
As we celebrate all the progress made to date, it is important for us not forget the important integral of our society; women.
Whilst we acknowledge the existing efforts aimed at their inclusion into this sector we need to also do more in terms of encouraging them to participate in this sector equally as their male counterparts. When in Busan, South Korea, we have attended the Gem-Tech Awards wherein women were honoured for their positive contribution towards the sector. The Gem-Tech Awards is the first-of-its-kind event which aims to put ICTs and gender at the heart of ITU’s future strategy, and acknowledge the considerable achievements of many ITU Member States and Sector Members. This is one of the ways which we can emulate and use it to encourage our women to partake in this critical cross-cutting sector of our economy.
I thank you.
