• KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube has welcomed the province’s Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) Commission.
• Led by an ICT consultant and a businessman, the Commission’s objective is to create a strategy to make service delivery more efficient through digitalisation, among other goals.
• Also joining the commission is the director of the University of Johannesburg’s School of Consumer Intelligence and Information Services, a digital marketer, and a Big Data expert.

The provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), has been working towards embracing technologies in an effort to paint the province, one of the three most economically active in the country alongside the Western Cape and Gauteng, as one that is digitally “smart.”

This initiative has been spearheaded by Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube, whose latest foray into the project has been the appointment of a provincial commission to oversee the deployment of digital technologies across KZN.

According to Dube-Ncube, the commission’s main objective is to guide KZN towards “government automation, integration and digitisation of services to realize efficient service delivery, economic opportunities and innovation.”

The five members of the commission will reportedly work with the provincial government to develop a technologically-inclined strategy, featuring the latest digital innovations, to support the province’s most important economic sector.

These include the sectors of agriculture, oceans, finance, mining, manufacturing, ICT and electronics, tourism and business.

“This commission is a game-changer in our march towards positioning KwaZulu-Natal as a smart Province. It is a good progression from the approval of the Provincial Digital Transformation Strategy by the Executive Council in May 2020, whose main objectives are to guide the province towards government automation, integration and digitisation of services to realize efficient service delivery, economic opportunities and innovation” said the enthused Premier in an official statement.

The commission will be chaired by Dr Leon Rolls, the managing director of Sigma IT, an ICT services provider and an IT consultant for the uMgungundlovu District Municipality. He will be joined by businessman Prof. Chris Addendorff of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University as the commission’s deputy chair.

Filling out the commission alongside the pair will be Dr Stella Bvuma, director of the University of Johannesburg’s School of Consumer Intelligence and Information Services, data analytics and ICT policy expert Dr Sibongiseni Thostsejane and digital content marketer Langelihle Zulu.

“The 4IR Commission needs to build hope for a better and smarter future for KZN as a Province. We must be a connected Smart Province with a thriving digital economy. Time for talking and unending learning from other countries is over. We are going to vigorously implement this strategy now,” said Rolls.

“This commission represents a significant step forward in our journey towards embracing the transformative power of technology and innovation in our rapidly changing world and bridging the digital divide,” adds Dube-Ncube, who has also seen the launch of other “4IR” initiatives in the province, including a skills lab, and the rollout of digital learnings boot camps.

[Image – KZN Gov on Instagram]