South Africa needs to address its ICT skills gap urgently
Despite its vibrant ICT sector, South Africa’s skills gap and increasing tech talent demand continue to hold back growth in the industry and the economy.
According to the South Africa ICT Talent Development White Paper, released by Huawei and Ernst & Young (EY), the country needs to urgently address these problems if they want to generate further growth in the tech industry.
EY’s Geostrategic Business Group Sub-Saharan Africa Representative Angelika Goliger said the ICT sector has shown significant resilience as one of the best-performing sectors in the country and globally.
According to the white paper, there are currently around 20,000 ICT companies in SA. Cumulatively, they contribute 8% to the country’s GDP.
Furthermore, the sector has achieved consistent growth despite the country’s economic challenges and is set to maintain a growth trajectory through 2025.
“But, SA’s ICT sector and its potential for economic growth [have] a ceiling on it because of the lack of ICT skills – you cannot have a vibrant ICT sector without the requisite skills,” she added.
The paper also noted the top occupations with hard-to-fill vacancies in the ICT sector. This includes software developers, computer network technicians, developer programmers, ICT communications assistants, computer network and systems engineers, and ICT security specialists.
