Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Dr Siyabonga Cwele and Internet co-inventor Dr Robert Khan on Sunday signed a multiparty administrator service agreement between South Africa and the Dona Foundation.
Cabinet approved South Africa’s participation in the development of the digital object architecture, or an alternative way of managing information on the Internet.
“The advantages of this architecture include that it is not controlled by one government or from one location. It is run under the Dona Foundation with the support of the International Telecommunication Union and is distributed globally through the multiparty administrators,” Cwele said during his address at the fifth African Internet Governance Forum, in Durban.
Cwele urged African governments to develop policies that would ensure Internet governance was multilateral and democratic.
As such, policy must ensure that everyone is able to participate in the online economy, reiterate that intellectual property matters and entrench cybersecurity and online privacy.
“As a continent, we must pay particular attention to infrastructure access, affordability and skilling of all our citizens to take advantage of the Internet and Internet economy value chain.
“We must work with the private sector and other role-players to close the emerging digital divide within and across our nations,” he said, adding that governments needed to focus on adding value to and empowering citizens to enter into the knowledge economy and cope with the unavoidable Fourth Industrial Revolution.