Kathy Gibson reports – South Africa and Africa must drive forward to create a digitally-inclusive environment that creates opportunities for entrepreneurs and lifts people out of poverty.
This is the word from Solly Malatsi, minister of communications and digital technologies, addressing the Ministerial Forum ahead of AfricaCom 2024.
“Digital inclusion is an essential facilitator of social inclusion,” he says. “It is about delivering the services that enable people to live, work and learn.”
But access to some of these technologies is still a significant challenge, Malatsi says. “Digitalisation brings boundless opportunities – but has also introduced new barriers.
Indeed, new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) risk making the digital divide wider. “So we must put all our endeavours into addressing the gaps, to ensure digital technologies are a means to empowerment, not exclusion.”
It is imperative to expand access to infrastructure, provide digital skills and ensure that the technologies are sustainable and inclusive.
Without electricity access, however, digital inclusion will remain a pipedream, and we need to consider new ways of providing this energy.
“Africa is well positioned to lead the world in renewables,” Malatsi says. “We are blessed with solar and energy resources that we could leverage for connectivity purposes.”
But Africa is still the least electrified region, with half a billion people lacking access to reliable electricity.
“Unless efforts are tripled, most will remain without power by 2030,” Malatsi shares. “Only a handful of countries will be fully electrified by 2030 – and others will take up to 100 years.”
This is where collaboration comes into play, Malatsi says. “As Africa embraces distributed renewable energy, we must ensure our digital infrastructure is powered by clean, renewable energy.”
Digitalisation requires large data centres, and we should ensure these are powered by clean energy, he says. “We know connectivity has to be meaningful, reliable and sustainable – so energy must be clean, reliable and renewable.”
This is one of the focus areas of the African Digital Transformation Strategy, which talks about providing accessible and reliable infrastructure, as well as promoting digital skills.
“A digital economy is not just about accessibility: citizens must be equipped with the necessary skills,” Malatsi adds. “Digital literacy is at the heart of inclusion, so we must put all the necessary interventions in place to empower even the most vulnerable members of society to be able to navigate the digital world with confidence.”
The critical factors that need to be in place to achieve this are accessibility, skills and digital acceptance.
“We want to build a society that is digitally active, but also geared to economic outputs, to we can uplift people out of poverty and help entrepreneurs take digital opportunities to better future,” Malatsi says.
“For South Africa and the continent, we need domestic and international investment.”
The potential for growth of the digital economy is immense, he adds, and South Africa has the potential to lead its development on the continent. “So we are the ideal partner for those investors looking to invest in Africa.”
Government is working to create an enabling environment for investment, with the vision of making South Africa a hub for innovation and digital service to drive economic growth and uplift people from poverty, Malatsi adds.