SPEECH BY EXECUTIVE MAYOR: MR THABO
MAKUNYANE WORLD TELECOMMUNICATIONS DAY 2005
04 June 2005 – PETER MOKABA STADIUM
Programme Director
Honourable MEC of the Provincial Treasury
Honourable Deputy Minister, Comrade Padayachie
Executive Mayor: Capricorn District, Comrade
Monakedi
Representatives (Captains) of the telecommunications
industry
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is our singular honour to
welcome you all to Polokwane on this important
occasion - the commemoration of World
Telecommunications Day 2005 – 140th
Anniversary of the International Telecommunications
Union.
Only a few years ago many of us
had to travel dozens of kilometers to a Post Office
to send a telegram or to make a phone call. A few
years ago it was almost impossible to imagine what
it would be like to be able to communicate by mobile
phone from the remotest corner of our country –
cellular telephony was as remote from us as star
wars technology.
But today for some it is almost
impossible to imagine life without the cellphone,
without the TV and even without the Internet and
e-mail.
Information and Communications
Technology has transformed our world forever! It has
made possible what was hardly imaginable only a few
years ago. It has opened up new vistas in
healthcare, in education, in trade and in our
capacity to connect with each other across space and
time.
Only a few months ago the whole
world lived through the experiences of the Tsunami
victims. It was the ICT revolution that made it
possible for millions of people from all over the
world to respond with outpourings of sympathy and
humanitarian assistance.
But this revolution in
Information and Communications Technology was to be
guided towards building a better life for all. In
the words of the Secretary General of the
International Telecommunications Union, “Access to
ICT varies greatly between rural and urban areas,
between rich and poor, between the educated and the
illiterate, and between men and women. This
multiplicity of divides is a major impediment to the
emergence of an equitable and viable information
society”.
This “digital divide” must be
closed. As the theme of this year’s World
Telecommunications Day says, “ke nako” for all
stakeholders. “Creating an equitable
Information Society . . . Time for Action”.
Honourable Minister, as Polokwane
and indeed as Lampoon, we welcome your efforts and
the efforts of Independent Communications Authority
of South Africa (ICASA), Universal Service Agency
(USA), and all stakeholders to bring the richness of
telecommunications into the lives of all our people.
It’s a better world – let us all learn and enjoy.
THANK YOU
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