Chairperson; hon Minister Dina Pule; hon Deputy Minister, Comrade Stella Ndabeni; distinguished guests from the sector; ladies and gentlemen, communication is one of the infrastructures that we were told is necessary for us to grow the economy further than the current 4,5% in order to create much needed jobs in the country. I am saying this because it was emphasised that all economies of the world, including the South African economy, flourished and thrived on the pillars of a strong infrastructure.
That infrastructure in our country was said to be made up of information and communication technology, ICT; road and rail; seaports and airports - we know that the Fifa World Cup boosted our ports and roads development; water; and electricity. We were told that if we developed those five infrastructural facilities our economy would grow further than it has grown.
In fact, I must mention that, while we are criticising, which is good because it highlights the shortcomings that exist, we should not forget that, since the advent of our new democracy led by our father Nelson Mandela, we have done very well economically as a country. We were told that whilst we are doing well in developing the country's economy up to 4,5%, in order to create the necessary jobs that are needed by the country, we need to develop it further than 6%. This is what we are battling with in this country. We were further told that communication and ICT facilities are some of the infrastructural facilities that are very important in this development.
Development is obviously important in any economy and nation, but we do not see how we can use all these technologies if they do not benefit the people. The people are most important. We should not forget that, whilst technologies are important to develop our economy, we should not leave people behind. We can never be happy in a situation where 65% of our youth are unemployed in the country, including those who have completed matric.
Ten percent of those who finished tertiary education are unemployed because it is said that their skills should be in line with the needs of the economy. The Deputy Minister just mentioned that they are in talks with the education sector in order to see how best this matter can be handled. I want to mention that we were highly impressed by the German model, regarding which we were told by our education department that did oversight in Germany, that 60% of Germans are actually doing vocational training. They do not go to tertiary institutions. The vocational industry participates in assisting with the training of vocational skills because you are trained on the job while you are being paid. Something similar to what nursing is doing, where nurses are trained and paid. Today we have proud sisters who, even though they did not have the money to take them to tertiary school, ultimately trained as nurses because they could at the same time earn something that assisted their families; and today they are qualified nursing sisters.
We think that module of development is very good. The Germans should actually be a model for us in South Africa. I hear that the Deputy President is going to Germany presently. I hope that he will bring us good news about their talks with the Germans. We think that the communications sector and ICT should actually start at home, because, indeed, charity begins at home. We have many entities: the SABC; Sentech; the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa, Usaasa; the Post Office; and many others.
We went on an oversight tour and discovered that between Limpopo and Mpumalanga there were 200 vacancies that needed to be filled. In this day and age, when people are unemployed, why should we have 200 vacancies that are funded but still need to be filled, especially in a sector like the Post Office? This has actually been a call from our President, who said that all the unoccupied posts in government should be filled. We know that in the communications sector many vacant posts still need to be filled. We are calling on the leadership in the sector - I mentioned Sentech, Usaasa, the SABC, the Post Office and others - to fill these posts. Remember, I said development is about people. We can have cellular phones, computers and all these technologies, but if people are unemployed and impoverished then we are really not developing. We shall only develop when there is a better life for all our people.
The 65 million youth ... [Interjections.] I am sorry; can I drink water, copying from our former President Mandela ... [Interjections.] [Applause.] The 65% of the youth who are unemployed and the 10% of graduates who have finished university but cannot be employed should be employed. We need to communicate that message and practise it within communication entities, and beyond communication entities; because communication as a facility is very important. This is the only way that our President and government can talk to the nation. We are saying to the nation that we are embarking on a big campaign as the ANC government to make sure that we create all the jobs needed in the country. I thank you. [Applause.]