The Department of Communications observes Africa Telecommunications Day which is celebrated annually on the 7 December. The date marks the founding of the African Telecommunications Union on 7 December 1977. South Africa, represented by the Department of Communications, is a member of the African Telecommunications Union, and was recently elected to its Administrative Council.
The African Telecommunications Union fosters the development of information and communication technologies infrastructure and services. It is also the regional body for the International Telecommunications Union and co-ordinates the regional positions in relation to telecommunications standards and the role of ICT in development.
Today South Africans join the rest of the continent in celebrating the role that telecommunications is playing in helping Africa to develop her potential.
The theme of this year’s Africa Telecommunications Day is ICT and Good Governance in Africa. This theme recognises ICT’s increasingly critical role in ensuring the accountability and transparency of government operations at all levels: international, national and local. ICT is enabling Africans to connect with each other, access information and participate in the decision-making process within government.
By playing this empowering role, ICT becomes an engine for democracy and human rights.
ICT’s empowerment role is broader still—it is recognised as a key enabler of economic activity, and so provides a way for disadvantaged Africans to connect with potential business partners, and generally to leverage their creativity more effectively.
“Africa Telecommunications Day encourages us to celebrate the ways in which ICT can enable more democracy and strengthen a culture of human rights—but these benefits can only be realised once citizens have access to the technology,” says Dina Pule, Minister of Communications. “The Department of Communications is working hard to create an infrastructure that will bring ICT within the reach of all our people—and thus promote good governance across the country.”
