Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Mr Mondli Gungubele;
Members of Executive Council;
Senior Government Officials;
Esteemed Delegates;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Programme Director;
Good Morning!
On behalf of the government of KwaZulu-Natal and the people of our province, we welcome delegates to this 15th edition of the Govtech Conference.
We are grateful to both the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, the Honourable Mondli Gungubele and the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) for choosing our province as the host to this auspicious Conference.
Programme Director we gather over the next two days, under the theme: “Platform Economy for Digital Transformation and Inclusive Growth”.
In his book titled “The Knowledge Economy”, Brazilian philosopher and author, Roberto Mangabeira Unger posits that:
“In every moment of economic history there is a most advanced practice of production. It may not be, when it first appears and begins to spread, the most efficient practice: the one that achieves the greatest output relative to the inputs required to make it. It is, however, the most promising practice: the one with the greatest potential to stay at the frontier of productivity, having reached it, and to inspire change across the economy. It possesses, in higher measure than rival practices of production, the attributes of fecundity and versatility, assuming varied forms in different settings”.
Without attempting to define what the platform economy is, we hold the view that as Unger suggests, the platform economy, evolving as it does from the broader digital economy, presents the most advanced practice of production and holds the great potential to inspire change across the economy.
As such, we are delighted that this Conference’s theme enjoins all of us to consider the embrace and leverage of the platform economy as a steppingstone towards the achievement of our national objectives.
As is well-known, ours is a participatory democracy where the state plays a key role in addressing the demons of our past and to build a society characterized by peace, justice, equality and prosperity. That is why we have opted to define our state as a developmental state. Our developmental state is an enabler, a catalyst and is also a direct player in ensuring that out of the debris of the colonial/apartheid past, a new society emerges.
In this regard, inclusivity and transformation are key determinants. As a province we subscribe to the definition of inclusivity as providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized.
Transformation, on the other hand, refers to changes in social, political and economic contexts which bring about an envisaged reality in line with the objectives of the initiators of that change.
We have opted to give these definitions on the key pillars of this theme because we strongly believe that this Govtech Conference is more than just a platform for exchange of ideas and latest developments in the ICT space, but it opens a new frontier for us to pursue the objectives of the creation of a society of our dreams.
We also hold the view that this Govtech Conference should be a melting pot of ideas on how to position not only our government and our country as a leader in the digital economy, in general, but that it provides the stage for the advancement of the African agenda when it comes to ICT.
Granted, commercial transactions must still be concluded amongst the various entities gathered here over the next two days.
Granted, the showcasing of the latest ICT innovations must also be the other of day.
Granted, synergies and partnerships must be struck to explore new ICT vistas.
However, we would have collectively done a huge disservice to this Conference if we do not objectively explore how we can utilize the platform economy to transform not only the ICT sector, but our society.
We would be guilty of a major omission if we do not utilize this platform to drive inclusivity. Indeed, we would have failed in our mission if we do not seek to create a place in the table for ICT and the digital economy to thrive in the African continent.
As the province of KwaZulu-Natal, we are cognizant of the fact that without a proper plan, digital transformation will remain a pipe dream.
To this end, we adopted the KwaZulu-Natal Digital Transformation Strategy (2020-2025). This strategy is premised on six strategic priorities, namely Connectivity, Digital Skilling, Information Management, Knowledge Management and Security, Process Automation, Systems Integration and Digitisation.
We are hard at work implementing this strategy. The Digital Transformation Strategy is for government, citizens, and business.
• Government-to-Government Interaction: This entails facilitating communication among government spheres (national, provincial, and local) to enhance interrelationships and intergovernmental access to government information systems.
• Government-to-Citizen Interaction: This entails encouraging citizens to become actively involved in governance and to enable information sharing between government and citizens.
Programme Director for us the platform economy means changing people’s lives faster. It means building on the achievements on the education, health and so on, to build world beaters in development. Our people would be better if the digital world made their access to services easier and affordable. Digital transformation should not be a vanity project, but a catalyst for the creation of a better life for all.
Development, in any aspect, requires a combination of factors, including collaboration, innovation, financial resources, and determination. Technology and circumstances that compel innovation change at the blink of an eye and thus requires constant engagement. It is therefore encouraging that the Conference is in its 15th year.
Programme Director, while some commercial, governance and social challenges can be forecast using various instruments, sometimes disaster strikes unannounced. A case in point in COVID-19. When the pandemic struck, hard lockdowns had to be implemented and observed. Suddenly, technology, especially information and communication technology, was no longer a nice-to-have but a basic national necessity.
Education, health, social and other services were disrupted. The countries and companies that were able to handle the situation better were those that had long embraced technology. Without a quick embrace of technology even for those who were averse to it, we could have had an Armageddon in our hands. From online Cabinet, Legislature, and operational meetings to assessing and forecasting the movement of the virus, to the use of web-based solutions to receive social distress applications, technology saved the day. It was largely because of our embrace of technology that earned our country praise from the World Health Organisation for our handling of the pandemic.
I must also hasten to say that a higher level of technology literacy among government officials without a corresponding level in the populace will be fruitless. Innovation is for the improvement of lives. If citizens cannot make use of technology, it is of no use to our country.
We must therefore couple government skills development with mass education of citizens. While some may correctly argue that access to technology remains a big challenge in our country, access to mobile phones is significantly high. This provides us with a platform to extend services and crucial information to the people we serve in an effective and efficient way. Of course, we still have to address the elephant in the room: high cost of data.
Esteemed delegates, there are many areas of government responsibility that require the benefits of technology. Among these, are fighting crime, healthcare, social services and many more.
In a world that is fast evolving, the need for technology in our education setting has become even higher. It is important that while introducing technology is not cheap, we use opportunities presented to us by various instruments and initiatives of the private sector. In an article titled: The Digital Divide: Barriers to the Realization of Digital Rights for Learners in South Africa, Shaatirah Baboo Hassim lays out the situation:
The three main domestic policies currently in place in this regard are South Africa Connect (SA Connect) and Universal Service and Access Obligations (USAOs) which are obligations imposed by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa on telecommunications operators and, lastly, a recent White Paper on e- education published by the South African government. In addition, MTN, Vodacom, Telkom and Cell C declared specified education websites as zero-rated in terms of data to promote access to these resources.
The abovementioned shows that with collaboration, access to technology can be massified.
One of the most important sources of revenue for the state is the property industry.
Recent estimates place this figure as high as R191-billion, with a R46-billion direct contribution to national revenue. According to the South African Revenue Services’ Tax Statistics 2022, of the four property taxes, transfer duty is the largest source of revenue. The use of technology can greatly reduce the turnaround times of the transfer of properties.
In turn, this would boost business confidence, further improving the economic outlook for our country. It is very encouraging that the Deeds Office has embarked on a project to digitize title deeds and other relevant documents, thus moving towards an efficient property transfer process. With the digitization of title deeds, conveyancers will save time and money since they will no longer have to travel to request title deeds for the purposes of transferring properties.
KZN Provincial embracing digital transformation
I am happy to report that the government I lead does not only recognize the crucial role played by technology in service delivery but has embraced the Fourth Industrial Revolution. As part of seeing through commitments made during the State of the Province address, we have implemented various projects in this regard.
By way of example over and above projects that had already been launched before the SOPA like the Dan Nkosi Skills Development Centre in Dumbe, we recently launched the Provincial e-Recruitment Portal, an online job platform that consolidates all provincial government vacant posts and job opportunities. Without improved access to technology the aforementioned and other opportunities would come to naught. It is for this reason the Provincial Government is rolling out Wi-Fi host spots and digi-centres.
This conference would not be a complete success if it does not talk about the impact that artificial intelligence (AI) will have on the provision of government services and on society in general. Already, the interest that has been generated by Chat GPT shows that AI will have a fundamental impact on how society functions.
It is because of this reason that Yuval Harari, the author of the seminal book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, has grimly argued that AI has hacked the operation system of human civilization, and that computers will change the course of human history.
As all of us know, technology is not only an enabler for human advancement in science, health, transportation etc., but embedded in it are values, norms and way of life of a people evolving in the putative global village which is characterized by inequality, poverty and the uneven distribution of earthly resources.
In this regard, as the developing world we have a duty to ensure that technological advancement does not reinforce the current status quo and further widen the gap between poor countries and rich countries. As a government, we need to ensure that we thoroughly analyze the impact that AI will have in order to take the correct decision in our responses.
Esteemed Delegates, that the Govtech Conference has been held in our province so many times speaks well of our business tourism and other necessary facilities. It also speaks well of how we treat our guests. I am confident that as you walked into this room this morning, you had no qualms with how the airport, hotel and transport staff have handled your needs. I am also confident you will enjoy the rest of your stay. We also look forward to your return to our warm province for business or pleasure.