ICT remains must-have for SA’s future

OFTEN the bigger take-out than the content of a speech is in how it is presented. Two things stood out in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s fifth State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday. The first was his update on smart cities, which the president spoke of two years ago. The second was SA Connect, an approved project to “roll out broadband to schools, hospitals, police stations and other government facilities”.

For the first time, this ceremonial joint sitting of the two houses of Parliament – the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) – was delivered in strict adherence to the National State of Disaster regulations, with “no more than 50