All sectors need to embrace digital economy to spur economic growth
Policy clarity, investments and reducing data prices so everyone can afford to be online will assist SA in the fourth industrial revolution
As we moved to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s investment summit on the back of the jobs summit held last month, the department of telecommunications & postal services has been soliciting the views of information and communications technology (ICT) sector stakeholders on how the sector can contribute to a more positive investment environment, thereby stimulating much-needed economic growth and job creation in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. My first response to this challenge is that while there are sector-specific issues that affect national investment – and which I will flag below – if SA is to make any progress towards future-proofing the economy and its citizens, it has to move beyond understanding digitalisation as only a sectoral issue.
Rather, it should be seen as a policy challenge to all sectors: education, health, trade, finance, commerce, energy, transport — public and private — requiring high levels of state co-ordination to create an enabling environm...
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