While the Ministry of Information, Communications, Science, Technology and Innovation may not be celebrated daily, it is important to recognize that the Ministry is a foundational enabler of many of the services people are celebrating.
Every comment made online, every mobile money transaction, and every radio or TV broadcast is made possible by the infrastructure, policy, and regulatory environment championed by MICSTI.
MICSTI’s impact is often invisible but indispensable:
• Connectivity: Expanding mobile and internet coverage across the country enables citizens to communicate, learn, and do business. For example, internet bandwidth in Thaba-Tseka has been significantly increased since December 2025 through the newly installed fibre optic cable. Today, this improvement has already become “normal,” and many people are not even realizing its significance.
• Digital Financial Inclusion: Mobile money ecosystems continue to grow because of a supportive ICT policy and regulatory framework that enables innovation while protecting users.
• Broadcasting & Information Access: Radio, television, newspapers, and digital media platforms depend on spectrum management, licensing, and sector oversight to operate efficiently and reach the public.
• Digital Transformation: The Ministry is laying the groundwork for e-government services, digital identity, and future innovation ecosystems. Once these systems become mainstream, they will fade into the background and be taken for granted—yet they will remain the backbone of how citizens access services and how government delivers them.
• Private Sector Enablement: Telecommunications operators, ISPs, and fintechs thrive within an ecosystem that MICSTI has created and continues to strengthen.
In essence, many sectors deliver visible services—but MICSTI builds the digital backbone that makes those services possible at scale.
Recognition should therefore not only focus on visible outputs, but also on the systems and institutions that quietly power national development.
Source: Department of Information, PR UNIT
