We cannot afford to drop the ball on digitisation

Government must harness growth

South Africa, in 2005, was at the forefront, and was a trailblazer of the undersea capable network for fibre connectivity. It was seen as a country of hope into the fourth industrial revolution.

Today, the digitisation and connectivity have diminished compared to that of its immediate neighbour, Lesotho.

Lesotho has 5G connectivity, while the country’s public services are still struggling to interconnect. Rwanda has proved to be the Singapore of Africa in all aspects of human development.

Our home affairs, the heartbeat of where improvement should be launched, should be at the forefront to remedy the dire situation. The reason is simple: foreigners who visit our country are duty-bound, as the first port of call, to have contact with the department of home affairs.

We could, for instance, incorporate the Southern African Customs Union database, biometric facility, which encompasses facial recognition, into a similar system, devised by the department of home affairs – a system that will make it possible to facilitate relations with people across borders. This will have the effect to make Customs Union one nation with different countries.

Each country will continue to run as they do, keeping their independence from each other, but sharing the same region, which will result in ease of movement – and non-discrimination.

We could assign Lesotho as country 1, Eswatini 2, Botswana 3, Namibia 4 and Zimbabwe 5. The net effect of this is that we can have all fingerprints and facial recognitions of all people living within on our common database. This could allow for easy processing at the border.

It would allow people to work and do business unhindered. But it could benefit SA in terms of regulating movements within the Custom Union.

This would help to destigmatise foreigners and protect them while recovering costs for services rendered to neighbouring countries. This could increase the tax revenue collection from the borders.

It would allow free movement of goods and services. This would improve trade relations and create wealth among communities within the Custom Union.

The movement of people is something we should not stop, but control to promote orderly transaction. Additionally, this would allow a trained internal and external intelligence to tract and screen and trace those not properly registered in SA, also tracking illegal activities and trafficking.

It would ensure safety to the residents of SA, the eradication of drug lords and traffickers and international criminal activities. When we can count the number of people in our area, we can control and manage them.

This action would integrate the people that have long been one but separated by artificial borders. It could promote business growth. This can only happen within the framework of a properly functioning infrastructure.

If the government could look to the future, allow its people to develop the best way they can, then we would realise that people don’t need handout.

The current R350 handout by the government is patronising to the black masses who are not offered opportunities to grow.

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