Up to 30 000 South Africans will ultimately be trained to work in call centres as government moves to make the country a more competitive destination for business process outsourcing for international companies.

Initially, 1 000 people will be trained on a programme that has already been designed and a proposal for its funding has been prepared for the Department of Labour, said Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa, briefing the media on government's programme of action through cabinet's economic, investment and employment cluster.

And the Department of Communications has finalised an incentive package on ICT - information communications technology – to produce 10 “developmental call centres” that government intends locating in rural areas, with the aim of creating employment in economically-depressed areas.

The National Treasury is also involved in incentivising support measures for business process outsourcing and offshoring that has the potential for “massive job creation” in centres designed to produce a world-class service, Mr Mpahlwa said.

Key factors in South Africa's favour for attracting business process outsourcing are its time zone, which falls comfortably within European time zones, as well as the country's English-language capacity.

Success with locating new call centres in rural areas will depend on appropriate mechanisms for connectivity, said the Minister, adding that a Broadband Development Advisory Council had been appointed within the context of bringing down the costs of ICT and that its first report is due at the end of this year.

Related to this work is that of the Local Loop Unbundling Committee, which has also been appointed and which will report in six months' time.

He added that the EASSy cable – the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System – which consists of a fibre optic cable capable of carrying huge amounts of data and which will complete the final link in Africa's data highway around the continent, is planned to be operational by 2008, in a move many hope will significantly bring down the costs of internet connectivity.

A protocol on the NEPAD broadband network that includes the 9000-kilometre-long EASSy cable was signed by seven of the participating countries on August 29 in Rwanda, bringing closer the eventuality of cheaper internet for Africans.

And state-owned IT company Sentech has submitted a business plan to the Department of Communications that is expected to be finalised by the end of this month, said the minister.

He added that the rollout of Sentech's wireless broadband network will be included in the integrated infrastructure investment plan to be presented to the January 2007 Cabinet lekgotla.

On the question of the promotion of tourism, Mr Mpahlwa said a customised sector programme has been finalised, with public comments incorporated.

A tourism sector skills plan has also been adopted, with a national tourism conference on skills development scheduled for 19-20 October.

A national safety and security strategy for tourists has also been developed, he said, adding that Statistics South Africa was leading a process to address the quality of tourism data in a manner that will strengthen the impact of the tourism second economy in this major source of foreign currency for South Africa.

Other measures announced yesterday include a project to increase spending on research and development to one percent of gross domestic product, a project being led by the Department of Science and Technology, with the completion of a tax incentive model to boost private sector spending on R&D.

In terms of skills development under the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (Asgisa), proposals are “well advanced” said the minister, to train an additional 1000 professional engineers a year, and to add up to 50 000 additional artisans to the country's labour market over the next four years.

Following this, JIPSA – the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition, an Asgisa intervention programme – will focus on addressing planning and management skills in the education and health sectors, and to strengthen critical skills in the schools system.

BuaNews