'ICT key to helping poor'

[dominic]

blah blah fiddle fiddle blah lipservice fishpaste nonsense

http://www.finance24.com/articles/default/display_article.asp?Nav=ns&ArticleID=1518-1786_1759273

Cape Town - Information and communications technology (ICT) is the key to freeing people from poverty, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Wednesday.

Speaking in Cape Town at the opening of the Women's Mutingati, an international conference on women and the information society, she told delegates the poor needed the opportunity to "connect and become part of a rapidly-growing world.

"There is a need to ensure broader access (to ICT) for all."

the related articles links from this page are worth looking at..

 

[Gooku]

ICT is the key for access to Knowledge ,access to opportunity ,access to a better future for all

 

[stoke]

I thought the right to free education was the key to freeing people from poverty.
What happened to that constitutional right ?

Oh yea - ANC.

 

[LoneGunman]

someone please tell the morons of the State, that the 'key to freeing people from poverty' is nothing to do with electronics or communication - try getting:

1. a safe society in which to live, in security and peace
2. the possibility of a decent job at a decent wage.
3. a reasonably good education.

none of the above require electronics or communication networks at all.
Despite being one of the Elite who uses said hi-tech facilities, I hate seeing
such overt self-serving rampant bullsh1tting that doesn't help anyone - least
of all 'the poor'.

Privatise Telkom, build some houses, pay the police a decent wage, create some
jobs and stop waiting for AID's to kill off everyone that the State isn't actually
interested in ever helping. (600 deaths a day currently)

 

[mbs]

That's a blinkered view, if I've ever seen one. Telecoms is a vital enabling mechanism for every service aspect you can think of, including the 3 you mention. Sure, this has to be coupled to other mechanisms for it to work properly, but there's no denying the fact that telecoms is nevertheless an integral component...

 

[nOhIwAy]

That's a blinkered view, if I've ever seen one. Telecoms is a vital enabling mechanism for every service aspect you can think of, including the 3 you mention. Sure, this has to be coupled to other mechanisms for it to work properly, but there's no denying the fact that telecoms is nevertheless an integral component...

True, but,.... (in the context of poverty, keeping it contextually valid)

before you can get a line you need some bucks,
before you can get the bucks you need a job,
before you can get a job you need some skill,
before you can get some skill you need some knowledge,
before you can get some some knowledge you need to know how to read,
Then you need to know how to write,
then you can fill out the form and apply for the line (ICT)
Then you got to be credit approved (you need to have credit to get this)
Then you got to live near some cables
Then you got to have a postbox to receive your bill....

OMG, then you have to pay !!!!!

 

[mbs]

That's looking at it from the point of view of an individual requiring a service. I was thinking more in terms of societal needs, given the fact that poverty indications are usually symptomatic of community status, which is generally the measure used as the basis for NGO efforts - think of feeding schemes, mobile clinics, etc. (Individual poverty is usually a consequence of factors that cannot be addressed by such interventions, and would include factors such as alcoholism, drugs, gambling, etc.)

Telecoms is needed for basic infrastructure - line monitoring for pipelines (water, sewerage, etc.), power lines, communications for emergency services (ambulances, fire brigade, etc.), disaster recovery measures, communication for crime prevention, and so the list goes on. Once this basic infrastructure is in place, industry can move in and provide jobs, schools can be built for education, clinics and hospitals can be built for health, and so on - this I see as 'secondary' development. Integral to that, however, are the services provided in terms of the initial basic infrastructure, of which telecoms is a vital component. It's not just a question of having an ADSL line for residential use, I'm afraid...

 

[mbs]

If you see the need for telecoms in terms of a layers of needs that then you can easily go into an infinite loop of needs and prove nothing.

I am merely stating the fact that telecoms are integral to basic infrastructure. Layering does not have the natural consequence of 'logic looping', as you imply.

South Africa's intellectual capital has to compete with other countries intellectual capital for jobs as we all now live in the global village. IMO everyone's work, home, school and community centre should have access to affordable telecoms so no matter who you are you can benefit out of it.

Which I don't dispute.

The DoC viewing affordable telecoms as only being able to access government services for free at community centers just shows how far behind they are in thinking when compared to the rest of the world and their view will just worsen our comparative telecoms situation.

Which is not averred anywhere in the article, nor is that the DoC's stance, to my knowledge. Free access at community sites is merely one part of a broader strategy. The article concerns comment made by Mlambo-Ngcuka regarding telecoms and the poor, and input required for the Tunis conference later in the year.

 

[mbs]

Have you read Ivy's speeches? The DoC doesn't have a broader strategy judging by listening to Ivy and by looking at what the DoC has achieved.

See http://www.doc.gov.za/images/Strategic Plan - DoC.pdf for insight into DoC strategy and http://www.doc.gov.za/images/Annual Reports/Section 1235.pdf for that achieved - the 2004/5 report is due to be published shortly.
Never forget that the Minister is only the public face and serves well to deflect criticism, warranted or unwarranted - rather be guided by factual evidence, than politico-speak.