Allow me to take this opportunity to greet you all this evening and commence by conveying my sincerest apology for being unable to join you at this remarkable event. As you may be aware, on 18 December 2007, the United Nations General Assembly declared October 15 as the annual International Rural Women’s Day. This day was established to recognise the critical role and contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty. 

The Department of Communications has therefore partnered with the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities; and other government Departments, to empower women in Caguba within the Port St Johns Municipality in Eastern Cape. This event sought to, amongst others, expose women in rural in communities on the various ICT interventions at their disposal which may be utilised for social and economic development. 

The event took place today and that is why I am unable to join you this evening.

The Department of Communications is especially proud of the South African Communicators Forum for establishing the ICT Youth Forum, a body which will be paramount in addressing the ICT skills and uptake challenge that is facing the country. I therefore take this opportunity to congratulate the SACF Board and CEO for taking the lead and ensuring that the “next wave” of ICT students, professionals and entrepreneurs are incubated through the Youth Forum. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, ICTs play an important role in attaining socio-economic freedom. In effect, developing countries have the potential of becoming top economies in the world through the creation, adoption, and enforcement of relevant ICT policy, provision of infrastructures, gadgets and services to the community through ICT. Programme Director, the new growth path identifies the knowledge economy as an important driver of job creation and recognising the ICT sector as a key enabler. Whilst this being the case, we have noted that there is a significant skills shortage in the sector. It is therefore prudent to ensure that we increase sector penetration in terms of employment and business opportunities, for previously disadvantaged individuals and those identified as the vulnerable sectors.

In seeking to address the ICT skills challenge, the Department of Communications took a decision to integrate all of its e-skills entities into one integrated organisation aimed at increasing the capacity development of e-skills. This model for e-skills development adopted by the Department was endorsed by the ITU at the Global ICT Forum on Human Capital Development in October 2012 and was recommended to other 55 nation states for adoption. Indeed we still have a long way to go; however, I believe that we are on the right track in terms of dealing with the ICT skills shortage and devising means to bridge the gap. I therefore encourage you to ensure that the youth is aware of these interventions which will enable them to positively participate in the sector. 

As the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Communications has just noted, we indeed have the collective responsibility to increase ICT sector penetration to meaningfully contribute to the objectives of inclusivity and economic development. In this respect, the Department of Communications is implementing the e-Cadre Programme, our flagship national youth service programme in support of the Youth Development and ICT Strategy which is the guiding document for the ICT sector on how to approach and synergise youth development interventions. 

We will also shortly be commencing the Broadcast Ambassadors Programme which is also a National Youth Service Programme aimed at exposing young people to the entire broadcasting value-chain thus demystifying the sector as having opportunities only limited to presenting and acting. 

The Department is also implementing the Digital Storytelling Project which is part of the e-Social Cohesion Programme being implemented in partnership with Gauteng Department of Education (Tshwane District), Microsoft SA and Department of Arts and Culture. This project seeks to promote self-reflection by young people on what keeps the community together and what divides it as well. The project also aims to plant a seed to these young people to be content developers which will support the BDM and the Local Content Strategy.  

Lastly, we will soon implement the ICT Tools Programme which will, for the initial phase, focus on providing accessible work stations in the 15 FET Colleges the Department is currently having partnerships with as well as Universities of Technology. I therefore have confidence that the ICT Youth Forum will partner with the Department in taking these programmes into fruition.

Programme Director, the sector buzzword today is “digital migration” which I am sure the youth present at this launch have a keen interest on how you can play a role in the process. As you may be aware, the DTT migration process impacts multiple stakeholders including organisations across the broadcasting and telecommunications value chain, regulators, policy makers and consumers. In particular, the Department of Communications is responsible for overall leadership of the migration effort and developing the digital migration policy framework. 

To-date the Department has finalised the BDM policy, migration regulations and set-top-box manufacturing strategy. DTT presents job and business opportunities. As an example, there are opportunities for STB installers, retailers and call centre agents; amongst others. In addition, the DoC is developing a strategy to train unemployed graduates in STB installation and maintenance.  In addition, one of DoC’s portfolio organisations, Sentech, recently launched the DTT gap filler – Freevision. The Freevision platform encourages the entry of SMME single channel broadcasters into the mainstream television broadcasting sector. The platform will inevitably open the market for will benefit broadcasting and digital content publishers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers; and other broadcasting related industries - thus creating immense opportunities for the youth to meaningfully participate in broadcasting.

Ladies and Gentlemen, as former President Nelson Mandela once said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done."  There are countless opportunities available for the youth to meaningfully participate in the ICT sector. The interventions I have touched on present unchartered waters; open for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. As the Department of Communications, we are committed towards positioning South African as a global leader in the development and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for socio-economic development. We therefore welcome and are encouraged to partner with the SACF ICT Youth Forum. On this note, I wish you a successful launch and further pledge our commitment as the Department of Communications to provide you with the necessary support to ensure that the forum is the success that you intend it to be. 

Together we can and are doing more… I thank you.