{"id":7344,"date":"2012-03-06T12:59:24","date_gmt":"2012-03-06T12:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=7344"},"modified":"2012-03-06T13:02:04","modified_gmt":"2012-03-06T13:02:04","slug":"ict-should-be-like-water-anc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/7344\/ict-should-be-like-water-anc\/","title":{"rendered":"ICT should be like water &#8211; ANC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The ANC wants to shake up the information and communications technology (ICT) sector as part of a new National Policy vision &#8211; which would see ICTs as a basic utility, similar to water and electricity.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling party has published a document which seeks to provide a framework for policy discussion on media, communications and ICT ahead of its Policy Conference and the 53rd National Conference in June.<\/p>\n<p>The ANC said that a coordinated and targeted ICT policy, developed by the end of 2012, \u201cis one such enabler, to ensure that we build the human capacity of all \u00a0citizens and grow an inclusive economy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It said that, as a point of departure, government should develop and retain policy-making capacity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe current Department of Communications, which has been a missing link, should be transformed into a new \u2018Department of Information and Communication Technologies and Postal Services\u2019 to coordinate government-wide ICT policy formulation as well as oversee its implementation,\u201d the party said.<\/p>\n<p>It aimed to \u201cdefine ICTs as a basic utility, similar to water and electricity\u201d and outline approaches to uptake and usage, to promote e-applications in e-government, health, education, and fighting crime.<\/p>\n<p>The National ICT Policy would also set out targets to increase population coverage of high speed Internet access to 100% by 2030.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis means that by this period, every South African should be within the reach of the ICT infrastructure. More endeavours, including access to receiver equipment such as computer, are needed to ensure that South Africans can use the available network,\u201d the paper said.<\/p>\n<p>The ANC pointed out that Mobile broadband penetration still stands at less than 11% (households) and 8% (business), while, according to the International Telecommunications Union, fixed broadband in South Africa is at below 10%.<\/p>\n<p>The party called for a National ICT Forum to be created, comprising government and industry, to engage on critical issues of mutual interest. Civil society should also be invited to participate in the Forum, it said.<\/p>\n<p>Plans within the National ICT Policy would see the following state institutions rationalised &#8211; to address existing overlaps, duplication and undue competition within the state &#8211; including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Presidential National Commission on ICT;<\/li>\n<li>The State Information and Technology Agency;<\/li>\n<li>The Office of Chief Government Information Council (GITOC);<\/li>\n<li>Government Information and Technology Officers at provincial level;<\/li>\n<li>Broadband Infraco and any other state owned entities in the ICT sector;<\/li>\n<li>Sentech;<\/li>\n<li>Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA);<\/li>\n<li>Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA);<\/li>\n<li>NEMISA;<\/li>\n<li>Meraka Institute;<\/li>\n<li>MICT SETA;<\/li>\n<li>and FP&amp;M SETA.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A further area for discussion would be around the development of e-skills. \u201cAs discussed at the National General Council, e-Skills should become a compulsory subject in all public schools to promote an e-literate society.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis will also ensure that young people from rural areas are not abused by illegal training institutions, in their quest to acquire the much sought-after e-skills. The curriculum should focus on end-user computing, as well as encouraging young people to pursue careers in the ICT sector,\u201d the ANC said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ANC wants to shake up the ICT sector as part of a new National Policy vision &#8211; which would see ICTs as a basic utility, similar to water and electricity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1875,58,1876,26,767,1877,1646],"class_list":["post-7344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-anc","tag-broadband-1","tag-broadband-infraco","tag-headline","tag-ict","tag-national-ict-policy","tag-sentech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7344"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7346,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7344\/revisions\/7346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}