Speaker, chairperson, officials from the Department of Science and Technology, colleagues and guests.
Mass unemployment is an unavoidable consequence of the conditions that have been created in South Africa by a combination of lack of skills, poor education, unavailability of on-the-job training and the aversion of employers to hiring unskilled, inexperienced, poorly educated, and otherwise disadvantaged individuals.
According to StatsSA approximately 16.1 million people are employed whilst roughly 9.2 million people in SA are either unemployed, discouraged about finding a job and are considered under-employed.
Technological innovation is taking place at an intense pace and is lauded as a game changer for humans. Technological innovation is disrupting almost every industry in the world, this is the 4th industrial revolution or industry 4.0.
Technological advancement means that humans through digital intelligence can simplify and achieve which was once complicated and impossible.
The biggest problem in South Africa is that our leaders are stuck in a protectionist mode.
Unions in South Africa is not engaging government and business on the issue of job security and skills development around industry 4.0 – loosing the opportunity to become major players with regard to technological advancements in their respective industries.
It is estimated that by 2030 at least 60% of occupations will be automated, meaning that globally almost 375 million people may need to change jobs or learn new skills.
The world economic report estimates that disruptive trends in the labour market could lead to a loss of 7.1million jobs, two thirds of which will be in administration. The saliency regarding the looming 4th industrial revolution which indicates that over one third of skills that are considered important will have changed in the near future, should be addressed.
The urgency to create a knowledge economy is clearly hampered by our education system.
- The ratio of maths literacy to maths candidates have changed from 0.9: 1 in 2008 to 1,5:1 in 2016;
- In the poorest quintile schools 1/100 matric candidates will receive a maths and science distinction;
- Just 1 in 3 schools have a library and 1 in 5 schools have a science laboratory; and
- The unemployment rate for tertiary qualified professionals have increase from 7.5%in 2008 to 13.2% today.
While maths and science education is poor across the board in South Africa, the quality is worse in the poorest quintile of schools, leaving no doubt that school education is replicating trends of poverty and inequality in our society
The purpose of this budget vote is to realise the potential of science and technology in social and economic development by developing human capacity resources, research and innovation.
The budget increase of R233.3 million in real terms mean a decrease of 2.3% when considering inflation and the 1% VAT increase. Funding allocations to the research, development and support programme and technology innovation programme is not adequate enough to reach the desired outcomes of generating a knowledge based society for inclusive economic development.
The World Economic Forum identifies critical skills needed in 2020 such as; complex problem solving skills, critical thinking, creativity, people management, coordinating with others, emotional intelligence, judgment and decision-making, service orientation, negotiation and cognitive flexibility.
We need to promote and advance initiatives that link education to real world application of skills and we need to enhance skills that will serve our youth in the future. This can be achieved by expanding the high-skilled talent pool through development of the future ready curricula, with a large portion of that focusing on STEM education.
The spending of research and development of 1% of GDP is needed for science and technology to fulfill a greater role in economic growth, to adequately transform the sector and to increase South Africa’s global competitiveness.
Government should have a relook at its STI funding model and incorporate flexible legislation to attract and encourage more private sector involvement to address advancements in innovation and technology.
Economic freedom is only realised once people have the necessary education and skills to access opportunities and decreasing the unequal gap in society.
Klaus Schwabs in his book the 4th industrial revolution states “we have to large a disparity in the world; we need more inclusiveness. If we continue with the unemployment situation, particularly youth unemployment, our global society is not sustainable”.
It is clear that the ANC does not have the political will to address the challenges which come with the 4th industrial revolution.