Keynote address by Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Hon Mondli Gungubele at the South African Youth Economic Council 2nd Annual Jobs Imbizo, The Capital on Park, Sandton, 15 June 2023
Theme: “Assessing relevant economic policy necessary within public and private sector to drive economic growth that will result in mass youth employment and business opportunities in South Africa”
Programme Director,
Executive Chairman of SAYEC, Mr Bonga Makhanya,
Council Members of SAYEC,
All panellists, Speakers and Participants to this 2nd Annual Jobs Imbizo,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Greetings
Introduction
Thank you for the invitation to this Youth Jobs Imbizo taking place on the eve of Youth Day, a day when we commemorate a defining moment in the history of our country, the 47th anniversary of the 16 June 1976 Sower Uprising.
I must congratulate SAYEC for having established such an important platform where young people congregate in the interest of setting a developmental agenda for their constituency. Today’s conversations, and those preceding this one bares testament
to the slogan “Youth Action for People’s Power” which was the rallying call of the youth of 1976. It is only through youth action that we will redress past imbalances and deal with the triple challenges of unemployment, inequality, and poverty which affect
young people most adversely.
Dear young compatriots, we are fully cognisant of the levels of despondency among young people as a result of the many challenges you continue to face. It is for this reason that we appreciate platforms such as these where we get to share ideas, robustly engage, and learn from each other.
Ladies and gentlemen, during the life of this Sixth Democratic Administration, we have as South Africans demonstrated the mettle that sets us apart as a resilient people of hope and tenacity. We have overcome the destructive COVID-19 pandemic and
continue to navigate slow economic recovery as a result of various geo-political factors, including the war in Ukraine. Notwithstanding the energy crisis that government is working tirelessly to address, our economy showed marginal growth in the first quarter of 2023 – this must be welcomed as it is indicative that we are indeed on a path of recovery and reconstruction.
As a country we declared as early as 2012 when we adopted the National Development Plan (NDP) that by 2030 the ICTs will underpin the development of a dynamic and connected information society and vibrant knowledge economy that is more inclusive and prosperous. We are committed to leaving no one behind on our journey to meaningful participation in the unfolding digital economy. We will achieve this goal of digital transformation by ensuring universal access to the internet and investing in digital skills development, particularly for the youth and women.
Colleagues, technology remains one of the key enablers of access to economic opportunities. Young people who lack digital skills or access to digital technologies, particularly those who live in remote and underdeveloped areas, are at the high risk of being left behind in harnessing the opportunities that digital technologies can provide.
These benefits include access to education, training, jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities, which can help break intergenerational cycles of poverty, and bring about meaningful economic participation.
The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) has undertaken to make affordable broadband connectivity universally available to all South Africans to realise the socio-economic benefits associated with broadband connectivity.
Among our flagship programmes is SA Connect and the Broadband Access Fund. These programmes are aimed at bridging connectivity gaps by providing broadband access to the unconnected. Through these programmes, connectivity will be provided
to government facilities, directly to households, as well as establishing public WiFi hotspots. This year, we are deploying 9,900 hotspots in 16 districts across the country. Our target is to reach 80% connectivity countrywide by 2024.
The deployment, operation and maintenance of these broadband networks will create direct and indirect employment opportunities, while connectivity will enable access to information, job-seeking, e-learning, remote working, and income generating
opportunities. In addition to making affordable connectivity available to youth, the implementation of these programmes will prioritise youth participation by setting targets for job opportunities for youth and the participation of the youth owned SMMEs.
Ladies and gentlemen, Spectrum is a very important resource in the digital economy. It allows for the transmission of radio frequencies that allow wireless signal travel. These signals are essential in enabling us to make calls, chat on social media, and
supporting digital communication in areas such as Défense, aviation and maritime. In essence, Spectrum is the backbone that supports our connected world and without it we would not be able to stay connected with each other.
The Department has published the draft Next Generation Spectrum Policy for public comment in September 2022. The Policy aims to allocate as much of the spectrum as possible to support the modernisation of the economy. The new set aside provisions for allocation of spectrum for women, youth and SMMEs are a game changer for this policy. It allows for new entrants, to participate in the economy and stimulate growth. I will be issuing the final Spectrum policy by September 2023, and after that, ICASA will be responsible for the licensing.
Young compatriots, we understand that South Africa has some of the most expensive mobile data plans in the world. In fact, the country ranks 136th out of 233 countries. To address this issue, ICASA will be publishing the outcomes of the Call Termination
Rate and Data Market study this financial year. This will give more transparency and help to respond to the public outcry regarding the high cost of data in South Africa. We are committed to the struggle for #DataMustFall which affects young people the most.
We have as government taken cognisance of the key issues that hinder the participation of young people in the economy – thus the structure of the financial services sector being one of them. Young people often struggle to secure financing for their business initiatives as commercial banks often use red tape as a barrier to access finance.
Colleagues as you might be aware, government is at advanced stage with the corporatisation of the Postbank to enable the Postbank to fulfil its function as a fully licensed commercial bank owned by the State to render financial and banking services to the public.
Research indicates that 67% of the adult population in our country agree that commercial bank fees are too expensive. Additionally, 23.5% of the population remains excluded from the banking system due to inaccessibility of financial services. It is concerning to note that 62% of SMMEs still cannot access credit facilities. Even those SMMEs who have access to a bank account (81%), still struggle to access other financial services, such as business banking services, credit and insurance. This indicates a clear gap in the market, which Postbank can potentially fill.
The Postbank will ensure accessibility to affordable financial Products, services, advice, and guidance through a multi-channel approach, among others and thus solving the financial services needs of inclusion, serving our urban and rural communities, financial security and provision of financial education to our society, which young people will benefit from.
Youth Development Programmes:
Among our youth focused initiatives as the DCDT, we have established the ICT Youth Economic Participation Catalyst Programme which aims to accelerate the participation of young people in the subsectors of the ICTs where their participation is non-existent or low. Here we give priority to youth from previously disadvantaged backgrounds and those in rural areas across all nine provinces. This Programme started in 2017/2018 Financial Year and focuses on the training of young people on Domain Name Resellers (Internet Service Providers).
We have thus far trained a total of 1200 young people to become Domain Name Resellers. Of the 1200 youth that benefited from ICT Youth Economic Participation Catalyst Programme, 626 are female and 574 are male.
Our target for the current financial year is to ensure that 960 young people are trained as Resellers and Registrars. A total of 480 young people will receive ISP Reseller training whilst another 480 young people will receive an upgraded training to become
ISP Registrars.
We will also be implementing a pilot project on the Digitization of Youth Enterprises in the eThekwini and Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipalities. In each of these implementation sites, 10 enterprises that are fully owned by youth will be taken through
sessions where digitization is explained to them and its benefit. The Department will then assist these enterprises with purchasing of domain, basic website, email services, access to online trading and payments, and cloud service for information storage for
12 months.
We have through one of our entities, the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (NEMISA), launched the Ya Rona Digital Programme aimed at empowering and upskilling communities on basic digital literacy. In January 2020, the pilot project was launched in Bulwer, NDZ municipality, KZN and the training of 36 recruited digital ambassadors is currently underway. These candidates will then get an opportunity to train their communities in the digital skills that they learned. Through this programme,
we are introducing a paying-it-forward practice where young people are given the tools to uplift their communities. We thus aim to create a national footprint for ICT skills development by rolling this out to other provinces.
Through our other entity, the Film and Publication Board, we launched the Youth Voices Matter Programme which targets previously disadvantaged institutions of higher learning, to source the voices of the youth on their experiences as they are the most prominent on social media platforms. The FPB brought to these engagements industry partners such as Google SA, Meta, TikTok as well as regulators within the DCDT portfolio: which are Information Regulators, .Zadna, ICASA, as well NPO Media Monitoring Africa, (MMA) to contribute to the conversation and to provide services that are made accessible to consumers of online content.
In partnership with the University of Limpopo, the FPB launched the South African Online Safety Youth Council (SAOSYC) and appointed 11 Youths from across the country as ambassadors that will advance online safety conversations in schools and within their communities. The FPB in partnership with Meta, and industry partners will also host the first Youth Summit planned for 26-29 June 2023.
The FPB also engaged universities to secure research chairs, and for the financial year end 31 March 2023, four research chairs have been secured with the University of Limpopo, University of Venda, Northwest University, and the Unisa Bureau of Market Research (BMR). These research chairs are meant to assist the FPB to address regulatory gaps, in terms of technology and effective online content regulation. This is particularly important as we know that online content consumers are by and large young people.
Compatriots, an integral part of youth development is also addressing the gender parities that exist among youth. We cannot pretend as though we are not aware of the fact that we unfortunately still live in a patriarchal society wherein all spheres are affected by gender imbalances and the ICT sector is not immune to this phenomenon. It is for this reason that the DCDT implemented the Young Women in ICT Dialogue to make young women aware of the vast possibilities ICTs can offer, thereby quelling misconceptions about the sector, and inviting them to envision their future as creators and innovators in the ICT Sector.
The Department has also implemented the National Women in ICT Empowerment Program in all nine (9) Provinces. The main outcome of this programme is to transfer skills to women with the intention that those skills acquired will assist women and their
families to be able to take informed decisions regarding 4IR opportunities and ICT
careers available in the Digital and ICT sectors.
The DCDT also plays an important role in the mainstreaming of Disability perspectives in the ICT sector by ensuring that the Disability organizations and Disability communities in general are informed of emerging technologies, future skills and 4IR opportunities that exist and how to access these opportunities.
With all these programmes and policy interventions, it is our intention to make a significant investment in the lives of our young people who are to be the biggest beneficiaries of a fast growing and inclusive digital economy.
I wish you well in all deliberations that will result in business, employment and development opportunities for the youth.
I thank you.
