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E-GOVERNMENT

SA prepares for

digital revolution

“Government leaders, information and communication technology (ICT) doyens, academics, researchers, exhibitors and
industry geeks with an interest in all things technological, recently converged in the sunny seaside city of Durban. Their mission?
To ponder the way the Fourth Industrial Revolution will reshape the way governments all over the world work,” writes Nosihle
Shelembe.

The International Telecommunication One of the strategic values of hosting the
Union (ITU) Telecom World Conference conference was that government, together
,
2018, held for the first time on African soil, with its sponsors, provided support to
gave go over 50 small, medium and micro-sized
gave governments and industry leaders
an oppo enterprises (SMMEs) to exhibit at the
an opportunity to explore challenges,
partners solutions, investment conference. The entrepreneurs were
partnerships,
opportun
opportunities and best practices for mentored on how to pitch their ideas to
socio-economic development through investors.
socio-ec
ICT. The
ICT. The conference was hosted on the
continen “The SMMEs we supported as govern-
continent to increase the participation of
other Afr mentand our partners, to showcase
other African countries, which would also
increase their work, will not only be known at this
increase the possibilities of investment in
ICT on th conference … global businesses are
ICT on the continent.
South Africa, as the host, had the add- looking at those technologies. This is a
South A
ed advantage of positioning the huge marketing opportunity for them,”
country as a leader in said the Minister of Telecommunications
Africa in the ICT de- and Postal Services Siyabonga Cwele.
velopment space.
The conference sup- More money from honey
ported the African
Union’s (AU) Agenda
2063, which calls for One of those businesses that exhibited
support of the con- its technology at the conference
tinent’s accelerated was Beedale, a family business that
growth and technological developed an application that informs the
transformation, and for the bee farmer when the honey in the hive is
attainment of a well-devel- ready. This application is linked to a bee
oped ICT and digital economy. box. Member of the family business, Nicky
Th Worthmann, says beekeepers generally
This goal is aligned to South Afri-
ca’s own National Development Plan
ca
ca
c ca
c
ca
ca get one reaping of honey from one box
c ca
ca
caaa’s
(NDP) 2030 vision of transforming the per season.
country into an inclusive and innovative
digital and knowledge society. This will “With this technology they can get up to
be achieved by promoting leadership three just by knowing when the honey
and partnerships to tackle the triple is ready to take out of the bee box,”
challenges of unemployment, poverty Worthmann says.
and inequality.
This technology will result in bee farmers
South Africa used the opportunity saving money as they will no longer
to promote its business, scientific need to travel to check on whether the
and academic research projects and hive is ready. The application also has a
showcased its innovation. The conference temperature probe, demonstrating how
attracted more than 3 100 participants technology can be used to improved
from 94 countries. Among these were agricultural production, because if the
over 200 ICT leaders from 74 countries, temperature drops, the bees can get sick
including 33 ministers, and 125 small or they can fly out of the hive, leaving the
and medium enterprises (SMEs) from box empty. Beedale also wants to put a
emerging and developed markets alike. QR code at the back of the honey bottle
to inform consumers about the farmer
that produced the honey and the types of
Volume 12 No. 1 of 2018 | SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW 15