On Tuesday 17 June, South African president, Jacob Zuma delivered his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) which had a focus on the economy, job creation and the country’s broadband policy.
In December 2013 the Cabinet of South Africa adopted South Africa Connect, the national broadband policy, in an initiative to implement a better information infrastructure which would connect citizens and boost economic growth by 2030.
According to the president, “the government will endeavour to modernise, expand and increase affordability of information and communications infrastructure. Included in this will be broadband internet.’
“Government has invested approximately one trillion rand in new infrastructure to provide water, energy, transport, sanitation, schools and clinics and internet connections to SA citizens,’ Zuma continued.
The president explained that technical skills training would be an important area of development and said, “12 training and vocational education colleges will be built to expand the technical skills mix in the country.’
In February 2014 Zuma delivered a SONA speech in which he maintained that a big portion of South Africa’s wealth was being created through the internet and telecommunications industries and stated that the public and private sectors had already laid approximately 37,000 kilometres of fibre-optic cable. To this he added, “this will be significantly expanded upon over the years.’
