by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – THE next wave of infrastructure investment must include people, not merely platforms.
This is according to Huawei South Africa as it congratulates the Matric class of 2025 on their academic achievements but acknowledging the digital skills shortage in South Africa.
The technology company has offered some recommendations how the country can avert this gap as connectivity expands faster than the skills pipelines needed to support the secure, large-scale adoption of cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity systems.
This aligns with South Africa’s National Digital and Future Skills Strategy and points to the rise of industry certifications as faster, job-relevant pathways for young people entering the digital economy.
This is particularly relevant as the Class of 2025 achieved a record 88-percent national matric pass rate, the highest in the country’s history, which underlines the urgent need to convert matric success into market-aligned digital skills.
In South Africa, the skills-and-infrastructure link is especially real for young people entering the next phase after matric.
“Digital infrastructure delivers its full value only when it is matched with human capacity,” said Charles Cheng, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Huawei South Africa.
“If we plan networks, cloud and digital public services without planning the skills to build, secure and operate them, we create an implementation gap, and the benefits of digital transformation stay out of reach for too many people and too many businesses.”
Huawei recommends a shift from connectivity to competitiveness, public–private collaboration and planning for physical networks and human networks.
Huawei’s approach include collaboration with universities, colleges, governments and industry bodies.
A central mechanism is the Huawei ICT Academy, a global programme that partners with universities and higher learning institutions to provide industry-aligned curriculum, hands-on learning and certification pathways. Through the programme, Huawei works with educators and institutions to help students gain relevant technical exposure in areas such as networking, cloud, AI and cybersecurity.
Through the academy, Huawei has expanded more than 2 600 academies globally, training over 200 000 students each year, across a wide range of countries and institutions.
In South Africa, Huawei has academies at 88 universities, TVET and private colleges.
– CAJ News