Johannesburg: South Africa must empower youth, women, and people with disabilities to not just use emerging technologies, but to build it, shape it, and drive the digital economy. This according to Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, who delivered remarks at the first Youth, AI and the Future of Work in South Africa Summit.
According to South African Government News Agency, the summit was hosted by the South African Digital Governance Forum at Wits University in Johannesburg under the theme: 'The AI Divide - Ensuring Youth, Women and Persons with Disabilities are Not Left Behind'. Letsike called for an inclusive approach to artificial intelligence (AI), noting that AI is no longer a technology confined to engineers and computer scientists but has become an increasingly influential part of everyday life already being used across sectors, including finance, retail, agriculture, education, healthcare, government, and media.
Letsike raised an important question about the terms of participation in the digital economy. She emphasized that the traditional understanding of the digital divide, which focuses on internet access, is insufficient in the age of AI. The deputy minister identified three new frontiers of digital inclusion: connection, capability, and command. Connection allows access, capability determines what can be done, and command involves shaping the technologies, building enterprises, understanding algorithms, governing data, owning intellectual property, participating in rule-setting, and sharing in the wealth these technologies create.
While acknowledging South Africa's progress in expanding connectivity through initiatives like SA Connect, Letsike warned that access to broadband alone does not guarantee economic inclusion. She highlighted that a household could have Wi-Fi yet remain economically excluded, and a young person could own a smartphone but lack the literacy to understand the systems shaping their digital environment. The urgency of building AI capability is underscored by South Africa's economic challenges, including high unemployment, particularly among young people.
Letsike noted AI's potential to improve productivity, create opportunities, and lower barriers to entrepreneurship. For women, AI can expand access to knowledge and markets and make flexible learning more accessible. However, women need representation among those developing technologies, financing innovation, governing platforms, and owning the wealth generated by the digital economy. She warned that automation could inherit gender biases, reproducing existing inequalities through biased data.
The deputy minister highlighted opportunities AI presents for persons with disabilities, such as speech recognition, image description, predictive text, and intelligent interfaces. However, she cautioned that technology developed without considering people with disabilities could create new forms of exclusion. Accessibility should be integral to innovation, not an afterthought.
Letsike challenged the assumption that young people are automatically equipped for the digital economy due to their familiarity with technology. She called for greater investment in AI literacy across society, alongside access to finance, procurement, and markets for historically excluded innovators and entrepreneurs. Africa should also develop its technological capabilities rather than merely consuming technologies developed elsewhere.
Finally, the deputy minister urged South Africa to collectively cross the new frontier of digital inclusion by connecting people, equipping them with necessary capabilities, and ensuring the power to shape the digital future is shared across society. The frontier now asks whether they will have the agency to shape what comes next.