South Africa Gov’t to Address Skills Shortage

The South African government will continue to prioritize maths and science to address skills deficiency and innovation, Deputy President David Mabuza said on Saturday.

At the Youth Walk into Economic Opportunities Expo in Ermelo, 210 km east of Johannesburg, Mabuza said the government is committed to embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Xinhua reported.

“As we strive to focus on skills development, our government is placing greater emphasis on science and mathematics that would position us to acquire necessary skills suited for the knowledge economy,” he said.

The government will develop a public-funded science, technology and innovation plan of action over the next 12-18 months for socio-economic impact. “We are already seeing the rise of artificial intelligence with the emergence of robotics and driverless cars coming into the market, thereby replacing the human factor in the equation,” he said.

The government is responding to these global trends by investing in technology building blocks, and the country will take advantage of its youthful population to use the Fourth Industrial Revolution for economic growth.

“We must find new industrialists, product developers, software engineers, artisans and entrepreneurs. As government, we are here to put the infrastructure that will increase your chances of success in a world that is increasingly shifting and unpredictable,” he said.

Meanwhile, things domestically are getting very tough for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his administration. Beyond much-increased union militancy, which has in the last week seen a strike by workers for Eskom, country’s state-owned power producer, leading to sabotage and costly power outages around the country, there is also a growing militancy around land invasions, which Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema is calling for, in full populist mode.

Against this backdrop, further instability seems unavoidable as the South African economy continues to weaken.