But we are very disappointed to say that he failed to spell out how the human capital of our country will be developed. We know about jobs, but where will the necessary skills come from? We are disappointed; we would have expected the President to raise the bar beyond issues and definitions of any job, decent job or no job at all. By now, South Africans would have expected their President to present a long-term vision that would go beyond putting bread on some tables for now, especially during an election year, and which would actually take the country forward beyond a life of subsistence farming and temporary job opportunities.
The fact is, the President remained silent on a very critical lever for economic growth and job creation - freeing Internet access. This powerful leverage propelled countries like India and the Republic of Korea into economic and social prosperity.
We expected the President to tell us what his vision is; how to advance our nation into the international knowledge society where young people of our country could compete with the best in the world.
We expected the President to announce a broadband presidential lead programme, which would be driven from the Presidency, through the National Planning Commission under the leadership of Minister Trevor Manuel, to free up the Web for all communities, rich and poor. Unfortunately, it did not happen in the state of the nation address.
And what is the reality? Our position as South Africa today is deteriorating: Whereas we were in the top 25 of the developing countries in 2004, we are now ranked in position number 98 by the International Telecommunications Union, ITU. That is very sad. We should examine and learn from the information and communications technology, ICT, success stories in some of the other developing nations.
Why did India become the world hub for call centres, which created millions of direct and indirect jobs for their country? The question is, why did South Africa not get it? Just like India, we are also an Anglophone country and we are better placed in terms of time zones vis--vis major economic powers in the East and in the West. According to leading academics in the field, we lost out on the basis of two main reasons; firstly, inflexible labour laws and, secondly, the high cost of international Internet bandwidth.
Affordable, accessible Internet bandwidth is the lifeblood of the world's knowledge community, which will breach the digital divide. The Republic of Korea learned that very quickly. In 1995, that country had 1 Internet user per 100 000 of its population. With their president's intervention and the presidential lead programme driven through vision, they mastered just about the impossible.
Within a mere seven years, they moved towards the end of 2002 to becoming the worlds' fifth largest Internet market with 26 million users. And what happened is that that country is producing motor vehicles and people have access to information and knowledge.
To the contrary, North Korea did not free up access to Internet. They controlled this path. Yes, unfortunately, the hon Blade Nzimande is not here. Today, those two countries seem to be poles apart in terms of economics, people and ICT development.
Enabling broadband Internet access for households in South Africa, schools, government and businesses is a must for our country to advance to the next level of development. But we have to take care of Telkom, which is one of the major problems in the telecommunications industry. It's a dominant player and government is the majority shareholder. Let them move.
There can be no doubt that the state has a major role to play in our developmental economy. However, a state cannot always be the most effective driver.
Cope calls on you, Mr President, to drive the vision for broadband access for all communities, rich and poor, for our schools and our government services, but it must be driven from the central point. Take the first bold step to turn things around. Let it be your personal legacy. You may be forgiven for omitting this issue during your speech last week, but you will never be forgiven if you fail to heed the importance of mastering technology that would expand the horizons of poor communities way beyond what is now regarded as decent jobs.
In conclusion, failing to position and maintain our rightful place in the world of technology will deprive the coming generations of knowledge, skills and education. And if there is no hope, the reality of your Tahrir Square is less than a decade away. Thank you. [Interjections.] [Applause.]