Abstract:

This paper explores digital skills competence in a rural province in South Africa and advocates for the alignment of rural digital skills competence to the national digital inclusion agenda. Digital skills competence can help stimulate socio-economic development in a developing economy. The emergence of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies requires a shift towards digital integration for effective organisational operations and for performing individual daily activities. In order to determine progress made towards achieving the national digital skilling goals, this study assessed the digital skills competence in a rural province in South Africa. The findings of this study reveal the digital skills confidence levels of citizens who live in rural communities. The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has put further pressure on the pace of technology adoption and necessitated the need for government to prioritise upskilling citizens to become e-astute. This accelerated rate of the adoption of 4IR technology fueled by the pressures of COVID-19 presents a new challenge of digital segregation in growing economies where socio-economic standing dictates the digital skills competence levels of citizens. In order to establish the level of participant digital skills competence, the researcher administered a questionnaire to collect empirical data for this qualitative study. This study relied on purposive sampling techniques to determine sample size. Understating the digital demands and digital capabilities of users will assist in planning for South Africa’s transition into 4IR era. The findings of this study show that rural users of technology have low levels of confidence in using commonly adopted information and communication technologies (ICTs). In line with the national digital transformation agenda, this paper posits that rural communities are one of the economic clusters that must be rapidly digitally up-skilled if they are to become meaningful contributors to or beneficiaries of the 4IR digital socio-economy.

Keywords:

Digital skills, Digital inclusion, e-astute, e-skills for 4IR, Fourth Industrial Revolution, Digital access.