‘SA army needs capable women’

South Africa needs a “capable army” that includes women in order to contribute to and benefit from the fourth industrial revolution, says Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams.

“One thing that we realise is that in order to derive an effective economic spinoff from the fourth industrial revolution, we have to build a capable army. And we realise that a capable army will not be capable enough unless there are women,” she said yesterday on the final day of the ITU Telecom World Conference 2018 in Durban.

She was part of a high-level panel discussing the empowerment of women in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. Also part of the session were Minister of Small Business Development Lindiwe Zulu; Deputy Minister of Communications Pinky Kekana and KZN MEC for cooperative governance Nomusa Dube-Ncube.

Ndabeni-Abrahams said her department has committed to training 100 girls a year from each province in ICT skills in an effort to increase the confidence of women in digital literacy.

But acquiring and sharing digital skills needed to be a joint effort, not just the responsibility of one ministry.

She said a multistakeholder consultative forum would be convened in October. – ANA