IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

According to Carshif Talip, expertise leader, Urban Planning and Land Infrastructure at Zutari, a 'smart city' is much more than a city that is digitally enabled and brimming with technology. It is a city that leverages innovation to achieve its desired outcomes, Talip says, and here innovation does not necessarily mean only technology.

“A smart city is a city where opportunity, amenity, safety, resilience, inclusivity and prosperity are imperatives, and innovation across financing, design, construction, operations and governance is embraced by all stakeholders to achieve these imperatives,” says Talip.

As the 4IR becomes a reality, telecommunications is coming to the fore as a chief economic growth enabler for South Africa. The impact goes beyond the economic opportunities that the sector can create for citizens. We are moving into a future that will be enabled by telecommunications, and more specifically, Internet connectivity.

Connecting South Africa

Government has acknowledged it has a responsibility towards the country's citizens to ensure digital inclusivity for all. This is the basis for SA Connect, the country's national broadband policy, which highlights the need for an "enabling platform for economic enterprise, active citizenship, and social engagement innovation" that a telecommunications-supported digital ecosystem will make possible.

Huawei officials underlined the benefits of a smart connected city at the 2019 Shenzhen Smart City Forum, with rapid progress being made in how cities collect and use bid data.

The forum aims to promote communication and cooperation in building smart, digital cities, with MMC for economic development at City of Johannesburg, Leah Knott, attending the event, held at the Shangri-La Hotel Shenzhen on Tuesday.

The queue to renew your motor vehicle or driver’s licence at the licensing department in Fish Hoek was six hours long earlier this year. And that was if you got there with your coffee and chair before 6am. This created business opportunities for those willing to stand in the queue for you – for a fee. But creating small business opportunities out of government inefficiency is a hideous idea, let’s face it.

Why is the government taking so long to become fully digitalised? What is so hard about this? I’m not only talking about e-government, which makes citizens’ lives easier and removes the indignity of queues, but full-blown digitalisation, which happens when we use digitised content and data to change the way we interact or work. This could promote coordination between government departments and loosen the red tape that ties business in knots.

Lower than expected economic growth and resultant fiscal constraints in South Africa have emphasised the need for government to markedly improve efficiency with which it conducts business and delivers services.

Smart use of technology can yield productivity and efficiency gains. Unfortunately government is not well poised to harness the potential that eGovernment technology can offer. At the heart of this problem is the existence of a policy framework that fails to recognise the multidimensional nature of the country’s three-sphere system of government.

Polokwane's Vision 2030 was launched to guide the city's long-term development with the vision aiming to transform Polokwane into a modern smart city.

Members of the mayoral committee of the Polokwane Municipality gathered in Mookgophong last Monday for a two-day Mayco strategic session where municipal manager Thuso Nemugumoni presented a clear vision for the future of Polokwane.

The presentation highlighted both the city’s opportunities and challenges as it moves toward its ambitious Vision 2030 goals.

The information and communications technology (ICT) industry is urging the government to increase its promotion of locally developed software applications as this will also help in "digitising" the government.

The government is about to embark on a comprehensive review of its ICT policies.

In response to the overwhelming demand for contemporary, fit-for-purpose digital and IT education offerings, MANCOSA (a proud member of the Honoris United Universities network) launched the School of Information and Digital Technology (SIDT) on September 1.

The rapid growth of information and digital technologies, perpetuated through the emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), has the ability to bring about widespread change for the better.

Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said the Greater Lanseria master plan has been developed by a multidisciplinary team as the first phase of the smart city President Cyril Ramaphosa envisioned five years ago.

Kubayi said significant investment was still required for bulk infrastructure in the area.

She also said the City of Joburg has invested about R29 million of the Urban Settlements Development Grant towards the Lanseria wastewater treatment works and the Lanseria sewer outfall.

Chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and other recurring conditions top the list of health threats that impact the greatest number of people and contribute to high healthcare expenses worldwide.

The cost of treating chronic conditions accounts for an estimated two-thirds of global healthcare spending.

Gauteng e-government spent nearly R5-million to send 45 students, including relatives of its senior officials, to study in Germany for a programme some allegedly did not qualify for.

The e-government department sent them in November 2016. The students were enrolled for the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (AIR) course at Pforzheim University after a company that dealt with artificial electric immobility, IBA Global, had made a proposal to the department.

A new application designed by two doctors from South Africa could help with patient assessments.

Two doctors have created an mhealth app that has been designed to help overburdened and over-stressed nurses and EMS healthcare workers to be able to better assess the needs of patients in South Africa emergency centers.

The doctors, from Cape Town, are named Yaseen Khan and Mohammed Dalwai, from the Open Medicine Project of South Africa.

Technology can transform the educational experience at an individual student, group or class level, but when the borders of affordability and access get expanded, the benefits obtained get magnified, as schools are empowered to deliver more entrepreneurs, inventors, and innovators. It is in this spirit that Microsoft South Africa signed an agreement with Internet Service Provider Brightwave, to bring Wi-Fi and TV white spaces technology based on broadband access to more than 213,000 students at 609 primary and secondary schools, as well as several healthcare clinics in King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province.

Depending on who you speak to, the South African ICT industry faces a critical shortfall of skills, or it doesn’t have enough jobs for all of its experienced professionals. The contradictory picture points to a mismatch between the skills on offer and those in demand in a market that is going through some wrenching changes.

The industry, like many other sectors of the South African economy, has shed jobs as a result of the global economic downturn. Integrators like Gijima, end-user organisations like Absa and telecoms operators such as Cell C have all taken a knife to their headcount in recent months.

"It is creating a level of uncertainty," said Roderick Lim Banda, chairman of the chamber's information and communications technology (ICT) committee.

This also affected the confidence of business in the local ICT sector.

Statement by Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba at the media launch of the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) Project, Taj Hotel, Cape Town

Members of the Media, DHA partners, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

Opening the ICT Indaba Africa Conference in Cape Town yesterday, Pule said most of the new growth in data access could be attributed to the rise in the number of broadband subscribers using hand-held devices such as smartphones.

She said the number of mobile broadband subscribers grew by 31% in 2011 to reach 4.2million.

The State IT Agency (SITA) needs to finalise the country's national e-government strategy and roadmap to remain relevant within government, said telecommunications and postal services minister Siyabonga Cwele.

Cwele's comments come on the back of SITA missing the 31 March deadline to finalise SA's national e-government strategy and roadmap.

The creation of an ICT research council in South Africa to drive integrated ICT research and development was put back on the table at the GovTech 2015 conference.

At a roundtable attended by students, academics and government ICT officers, hosted at GovTech, the Honourable Deputy Minister of Telecommunications & Postal Services, Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize stated that government was interested in ensuring inclusive participation in policy formation and other issues of relevance to the sector and was considering the feasibility of creating an expert advisory group to inform the agenda on research and innovation.

Her belief was that data, research and scientific evidence were essential in policy formulation – hence the idea of a research council.

The Mnquma Local Municipality recently contracted TMT to implement an advanced Smart Safe City solution aimed at enhancing public safety, improving situational awareness, and enabling faster response to incidents.

The project, centered in Butterworth, represents a major step forward in the municipality’s vision of using technology to create safer, more connected communities.