South African president Jacob Zuma, says that more of the country’s wealth is being created through the internet or telecommunication.<\/p>\n
Delivering his sixth State of the Nation Address to Parliament on Thursday (13 February), Zuma noted that\u00a037,000 kilometres of fibre-optic cable has been laid by the private and public sectors in the past five years.<\/p>\n
“This will be significantly expanded in the years ahead,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We are proud of our successes in science and technology. The construction of the first telescope of the 64-dish forerunner to the Square Kilometre Array, the MeerKAT, will be completed in the first quarter of 2014,” the president said.<\/p>\n
Jobs<\/strong><\/p>\n Zuma said that national wealth, measured in terms of GDP, has grown to more than 3.5 trillion rand.<\/p>\n “Jobs are now being created again.There are now 15 million people with jobs in the country, the highest ever in our history, and over 650 thousand jobs were created last year, according to Stats SA,” he said.<\/p>\n “This is still not good enough,” Zuma said, adding that the unemployment rate still remains high.<\/p>\n “We have created 3.7 million work opportunities over the past five years. Our people obtain an income and skills from the public works programme, which they use to seek formal employment.<\/p>\n “Cabinet has set a target of 6 million work opportunities from this year to 2019, targeting the youth, Zuma said.<\/p>\n He said that the SA economy had to grow at rates that are above 5% to be able to create the jobs needed.<\/p>\n Prior broadband and telecoms mention\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In his 2013 SONA, Zuma said that government planned to achieve 100% broadband penetration in South Africa by 2020.<\/p>\n In 2012 Zuma did not mention telecommunications, but did hint at investments in \u2018information and communication technologies\u2019 in five \u201cmajor geographically-focussed programmes\u201d.<\/p>\n Zuma also did not mention telecoms prices in his 2011 SONA, but in 2010 and 2009 the president promised lower telecoms prices and better services.<\/p>\n In his first State of the Nation Address (2009) Zuma said that Government \u201cwill ensure that the cost of telecommunications is reduced through the projects underway to expand broadband capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2010 the president focused on broadband, highlighting that government was working to reduce the cost to communicate, adding that cheaper and faster broadband services are also on the cards.<\/p>\n ICT largely ignored in Zuma address<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n SA needs maths and science pupils: Zuma<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Zuma calls for patriotic news from all media<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore on Jacob Zuma and SONA<\/h3>\n