The Department of Communications organised the provincial public hearing on the National Integrated Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Policy Green Paper in Nelspruit in Mpumalanga today.

The public hearings seek input from all South Africans about how legislation can be changed to take into account the sweeping changes in ICT in recent years and lay a foundation for a more established knowledge economy.

“We don’t want only those familiar with ICT to shape the country’s policies and laws, but the public too. Since ICT must serve mainly the poor and disadvantaged, it’s very important that all of you have a full say. As government we can provide the space for ICT services, but what good would that be if the poor and disadvantaged do not make use of them? We need to have a big campaign to make people aware of the importance of ICT to their lives”, said Communications Minister Yunus Carrim.

“We are clear that the post office has a very important role to play, especially in the lives of the poor and disadvantaged, and as government we are to assist it to become more relevant and effective in the new ICT world we are in. But the post office also has to manage its resources more efficiently and become far more effective.

“We realise that we need to strengthen the SA Post Office, over time. We must give it more support to find ideas and strategies to make it remain relevant in digitizing world.,” said Minister Carrim. 

Mpumalanga Finance MEC Madala Masuku said the consultative workshop provided an opportunity for the community to address fears they have in using technology as well.

“Computers have moved from being large obstructive machines into small gadgets that we use every day. We need to look at how we use them to improve our lives,” said Masuku.

Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Communications Eric Kholwane said the policy review was important because we need to change anomalies in pattens of access to ICT services such as radio frequencies.

“There are radio stations that have about 500 000 listeners but are accessible throughout the country while some stations have millions of followers but are only available in certain provinces. South Africans must be able to listen to a radio station of their choice irrespective of where they may be in the country,” said Kholwane.

The public hearings discussed a range of issues including the following; the inclusion of people with disabilities,ICT as an enabler for disaster management, access to postal services, cybersecurity, inadequate distribution of broadcast and mobile phone signals, lowering the cost to communicate and the inclusion of computer education in primary schools.

Other provincial workshops will be held on the following dates;

1.Eastern Cape - 20 March 2014 

2.Limpopo - 20 March 2014

3.KwaZulu-Natal - 24 March 2014

4.Western Cape - 25 March 2014

5.Northern Cape - 27 March 2014

6.Free State - 27 March 2014

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Issued by the Ministry of Communications