COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

The Rediff Business Interview / Jayaseelan Naidoo

'Only a mixed economy can deliver the goods'

Mention Naidu and infotech and one is more often than not reminded of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu. Pretty soon, this may change as another powerful leader with the same surname -- albeit spelt differently -- spreads his belief that the future is all about IT. Jayaseelan (Jay) Naidoo Naidoo, South Africa's minister for posts, telecommunications and broadcasting, has been part of Nelson Mandela's cabinet for the last four years.

A person of Indian origin -- his great grandmother migrated to South Africa in 1883 from Vellore, Tamil Nadu -- Naidoo cannot speak Tamil but is keen on retracing his roots to India. He says he has been to Vellore but was not able to meet any of his relatives "who have moved to some other place". "But, I am confident that one day, I will be able to meet some of them," he says confidently.

He was recently in India to grace the CII Partnership Summit in Jaipur. One of his firm beliefs is that India and South Africa can lead south Asia and Africa in the globalised world. Another, he told Syed Firdaus Ashraf, is that there is immense scope for business between South Africa and India.

Any particular reason for coming all the way from South Africa to attend the CII Partnership Summit?

I had come to India in December with about 25 CEOs of South Africa. It was a very fruitful visit as we signed a lot of software memoranda of understanding with Indian businessmen. We wanted to do more of that and this is an opportunity. You see, India is a gateway to the whole Indian subcontinent and in the same way, South Africa is the gateway to the African continent. So both the countries can build a powerful bargaining position in today's globalised world by consolidating the economic relations.

I believe you have strong views on the functioning of the Indian telecom system.

It is not fair for me to comment on what is happening in India. But, I think the Indian government is doing a lot in this particular section and is moving fast. What I feel is that to give a boost to the telecommunication sector, we need to lower the costs of services, modernise the infrastructure and create a favourable environment for the private sector.

In your address to the CII, you said every child needs to be computer-literate. Do you believe this is a realistic goal for India to target, given the high levels of poverty and illiteracy?

Literacy rates in India and South Africa are virtually the same because we have a legacy of the apartheid and the attendant underdevelopment. But children can easily learn computers if they are given access to them. Technology is the most powerful leveller. It will bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, the urban and the rural areas. But the danger is that the technology is benefiting a very small section of the society. In fact, half of the humanity has never made a telephone call. So the challenge for India and South Africa is to get this whole humanity into the 21st century.

Do you think there are enough resources to sustain the herculean task?

Resources are there. You know, poor people make more phone calls than an average middle class household. In a village, one phone has more users than an average middle class home. Many people come to use the common telephone in the village whereas an individual hardly uses his telephone. So in terms of revenue, the village phone is earning more than the individual household phone. In South Africa, we have privatised the telecom sector and there is a partnership between the private and public companies. So we are creating an environment for the private sector and at the same time they are getting their returns.

Do you agree that in India, the successive governments have been reluctant to give up their monopoly in many sectors?

I don't believe that. The same situation was there in South Africa, we had a monopoly and only now we have moved to competition. We have to move to competition. A free-for-all does not produce results. At the same time, you see southeast Asia, the excess of liberalisation has left millions of people without jobs. So you have to trade very cautiously. We must allow private sector to come in but at the same time we must have a regulatory environment.

You seem to suggest that common features mark India and South Africa. How does your country cope with the problem of inadequate power and poorly managed electricity system?

In South Africa, we have very modern infrastructure but that was only for the white people. So today, it is our challenge to meet the needs of all the people. And we have dreamt that every year half-a-million people would get telephone and electricity. So we are moving with partial privatisation and liberalisation to achieve the goal.

What about India?

Electricity is a pre-requisite to build a knowledge-based economy. So we must have a proper industrial policy. If India is to become an IT superpower, it needs to take care of power. India has tremendous human resources in software. I have visited NIIT and Aptech and some other infotech training centres and realised that India has a tremendous human capacity which needs to be utilised.

You said software professionals in India must not be obsessed with the USA, that they must also consider South Africa. Why should not they accept the lucrative offers that the US industry seems to offer them?

We have to create an environment where one can motivate people. And it is a challenge for all of us; we must also build up a powerhouse of professionals. It is the young professionals of today who will shape the world in the 21st century. They need to be told that going to the US and working in corporations like Microsoft and earning dollars is all fine, a great achievement, but there is more to life than all that. But scratch any talented software pro, and she or he would say things like corruption, red-tape, bureaucratese are hardly any incentive.

We must be honest while addressing this issue. What we require is a new patriotism as expounded by President Mandela. There is more to life than mere consumerism. Indians must realise that they have a civilisation that dates back to thousands of years, whether it is Dravidan or Harappan. All these cultures have value. So the youth must ask themselves: 'Are we going to become a cheap photocopy of the Western consumerism? Or, are we going to inject new values of compassion, honesty and spirituality?' A person must ask himself, 'What is the meaning of life? Do we exist only to earn millions of dollars?'

But 'get-rich-as-soon-as-possible' seems the new mantra.

Yes, and that is what we have to change. We have to make people in the developing countries understand that they should not become a photocopy of Western consumerism.

In a knowledge-based society, would concepts like capitalism and socialism be relevant?

I think we are going through a new revolution and that is the IT revolution. And the core of the economy is creating information. But that is not what the whole economy is all about. We need the manufacturing sector and agriculture too. We need innovation and creativity. And that is what we need to learn from the USA, how to become entrepreneurs and how to take risk.

You have been a trade union leader; your party came to power on the socialist plank. I find it interesting that you should talk of emulating the capitalist-driven US economy.

We all come with a particular history and background. I don't want to go into a philosophical discussion. But I feel that as a result of what happened in east Europe, we recognised that it is only the mixed economy that can deliver the goods to the people, so to say. A partnership between private and public sector is needed for the benefit of society. Obviously we have to learn that there are failures in capitalism too. And we have to avoid the negative side which happened in southeast Asia.

Do you agree with the view that the black capitalists have replaced the white ones and that it is just about all that has happened in South Africa in recent years?

We have a very long way to go. We have to bring black people into the mainstream of our society. We achieved the political liberation, economic liberation is still a long way to go. And we are trying to promote empowerment at every level of the society.

Please elaborate.

Creation of jobs and delivering services to the rural areas is one of the most important tasks of our government. Over the next five years, we will lay three million telephony lines that will connect 80 per cent of the houses in disadvantaged areas. We are not saying that there are no problems. There are problems but we have to bring the poor into the society. And that is why we need the partnership between the private and public sectors.

Interviews

Business news