Communications and digital technologies minister Mondli Gungubele has warned that the Eastern Cape will lose business if it fails to adapt to the digital age.
Gungubele was speaking in East London at the launch the government’s digital literacy programme, “Ya Rona Digital Ambassadors”, in partnership with the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (Nemisa).
Gungubele stressed the importance of the country becoming digitally literate to keep up with the demands of doing business with the rest of the world.
Speaking in isiXhosa, he said one of the reasons the South African Post Office was in trouble was its failure to adapt to the use of modern technology.
In July, the North Gauteng High Court granted the government’s application to place the cash-strapped Post Office in business rescue, bringing liquidation proceedings against it to a halt.
“The time we are in is a time that has access to quality information quickly ... this means if your clients want services from you and you are still doing business the old-fashioned way, you are going to delay them.
“To make an example, the Post Office is in trouble. [At the Post Office] when someone wants their parcel, it takes a week, two weeks or even three weeks. Those who are using ICT, they deliver in three days,” Gungubele said.
He said the delays led to customers going elsewhere.
“For our economy to survive, we need to trade with other countries. For example, Europe orders a lot of cars that are made in this country, assembled here in [Gqeberha] and East London.
“For there to be employment opportunities, the work needs to be there but if we are not digitally literate, Europe will find us slow in delivery and go somewhere else.”
He said the world was changing and adapting to technology.
“The way we work is different, we no longer work like we did in the past.
“There is no longer a need for [traditional] secretaries, they are looking for people who work differently and you find that in ICT.
“ICT is a world full of different information you can use to connect with the world while sitting at home.
“If you want to build a business, you can use ICT to find out how the rest of the world does it ... the time we are in, you will not be hired without digital literacy,” he said.
Gungubele said even in industries such as insurance, agents were no longer required to physically visit their clients.
“For there to be employment opportunities, the work needs to be there but if we are not digitally literate, Europe will find us slow in delivery and go somewhere else.”
— Mondli Gungubele
“Countries across the globe, including SA, are chasing against time to achieve digital [transformation] across all levels and across all age groups,” he said.
“As the provision of services increasingly migrates toward digital channels, people without digital literacy are at risk of missing out on the benefits [and will] get left behind as technology continues to change,” he said.
He said the aim of the Ya Rona programme was to reduce the digital divide in communities, adding that it would be rolled out to as many municipalities as possible.
At the event, it was revealed that the department would hire 90 youths in BCM to be “digital ambassadors” to teach communities to be digitally literate.
Nemisa CEO Trevor Rammitlwa said the 90 youths would be trained by the agency before they were sent out to train communities.
They were expected to earn stipends of R3,500 a month. He said the agency would advertise and then select from a pool of applicants.
Applicants need to be unemployed, under 35 and possess a matric qualification.
“We are going to be running the project over six months,” Rammitlwa said.
He said the “ambassadors” would also be supplied with gadgets, including laptops, and access to data which they could use to hotspot others during their training sessions in communities.
The agency had several other programmes in the province, including a cellphone repairs training programme which it did in collaboration with the Walter Sisulu University.
The programme looked to train 100 people and later help them to register small businesses to fix cellphones and sell other gadgets.
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