Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Vodacom is in early talks with the South African Local Government Association (Salga) to build a local government ICT network that will enable collaboration amongst municipalities and local government entities, said Vuyani Jarana, CEO of Vodacom Business.
He spoke at Salga's summit, which takes place in Cape Town this week.
Such a local government ICT network will range from shared data centre capabilities to hosted multi-tenanted billing systems and local government wide area networks.
"We are at an exploratory stage of this potential public private partnership. Such a partnership anchored by our investment brings equity into the local government sphere and will enable smaller municipalities who have limited rate bases to enjoy similar technical advantages like the large Metros endowed with rate bases," said Jarana.
"Such partnerships will enable the large metros to leverage our capability to shape back office IT infrastructure to be able to better service their citizens through digital channels."
Rural land
He also said local government needs to find a better model to leverage rural arable land, which will increasingly become abandoned as citizens move to cities to look for better opportunities.
"If a solution is not found, the land will remain underutilised and opportunities lost," he said.
Africa's future
"This summit comes at a time where Africa, like many other emerging economies, is experiencing a significant change in fortune for the better."
He said Africa’s middle class is growing fast and by 2020 it is projected that half of the households in Africa will have discretionary spending power.
Africa will soon have the world’s largest workforce. It will swell by 163 million and by 2035 it will be bigger than China’s and by 2050 Africans will account for 25% of the workers in the world.
"Mobile is exploding and digital literacy improving significantly in Africa. According to GSMA, the mobile industry employed 3.6 million people directly and indirectly in Africa in 2010," he said.
By 2025 internet penetration in Africa will reach over 50% with more than 600 million having access to internet.
By that time there will be over 360 million smartphones in Africa, R750m being made in ecommerce sales and a R3bn contribution to GDP coming from ICT.
"Intra-Africa trade is still at its infancy with just 11% of Africa trade taking place within its borders - the lowest amongst world regions," said Jarana.
"Politics, resource constraints and a lack of transport networks have kept this very low."
He said Africa holds most of the world’s uncultivated arable land.
"Resources aren’t the whole story but they are a catalyst. 60% of the world’s potential farmland in Africa could become an agricultural power house," said Jarana.
Urbanisation
"The rate of urbanisation will increase, which means that that cities need to invest in infrastructure that will be able to carry the demands of urban citizens."
He said cities need to understand that the citizens they serve are increasingly exposed to digital channels for service and will soon demand higher levels of engagement from their government, be it though mobile or web based internet service.
"Long-range planning becomes crucial if we are to the capture the opportunities available and to avoid failing future generations," he said.
"Building capacity to execute large scale projects at local government level is a critical game changer for South Africa and the continent. We cannot afford to fail in this regard."
- Fin24
He spoke at Salga's summit, which takes place in Cape Town this week.
Such a local government ICT network will range from shared data centre capabilities to hosted multi-tenanted billing systems and local government wide area networks.
"We are at an exploratory stage of this potential public private partnership. Such a partnership anchored by our investment brings equity into the local government sphere and will enable smaller municipalities who have limited rate bases to enjoy similar technical advantages like the large Metros endowed with rate bases," said Jarana.
"Such partnerships will enable the large metros to leverage our capability to shape back office IT infrastructure to be able to better service their citizens through digital channels."
Rural land
He also said local government needs to find a better model to leverage rural arable land, which will increasingly become abandoned as citizens move to cities to look for better opportunities.
"If a solution is not found, the land will remain underutilised and opportunities lost," he said.
Africa's future
"This summit comes at a time where Africa, like many other emerging economies, is experiencing a significant change in fortune for the better."
He said Africa’s middle class is growing fast and by 2020 it is projected that half of the households in Africa will have discretionary spending power.
Africa will soon have the world’s largest workforce. It will swell by 163 million and by 2035 it will be bigger than China’s and by 2050 Africans will account for 25% of the workers in the world.
"Mobile is exploding and digital literacy improving significantly in Africa. According to GSMA, the mobile industry employed 3.6 million people directly and indirectly in Africa in 2010," he said.
By 2025 internet penetration in Africa will reach over 50% with more than 600 million having access to internet.
By that time there will be over 360 million smartphones in Africa, R750m being made in ecommerce sales and a R3bn contribution to GDP coming from ICT.
"Intra-Africa trade is still at its infancy with just 11% of Africa trade taking place within its borders - the lowest amongst world regions," said Jarana.
"Politics, resource constraints and a lack of transport networks have kept this very low."
He said Africa holds most of the world’s uncultivated arable land.
"Resources aren’t the whole story but they are a catalyst. 60% of the world’s potential farmland in Africa could become an agricultural power house," said Jarana.
Urbanisation
"The rate of urbanisation will increase, which means that that cities need to invest in infrastructure that will be able to carry the demands of urban citizens."
He said cities need to understand that the citizens they serve are increasingly exposed to digital channels for service and will soon demand higher levels of engagement from their government, be it though mobile or web based internet service.
"Long-range planning becomes crucial if we are to the capture the opportunities available and to avoid failing future generations," he said.
"Building capacity to execute large scale projects at local government level is a critical game changer for South Africa and the continent. We cannot afford to fail in this regard."
- Fin24
