By Lebone Rodah Mosima
Minister of Higher Education and Training Buti Manamela has warned that unequal access to technology in South Africa’s public colleges risks reproducing existing social and economic inequalities, calling for greater investment in digital skills, devices and reliable connectivity to ensure that disadvantaged students are not left behind.
Manamela made the remarks on Monday during the launch of the Northlink College Digital Hub and Digital Learning Platform in Goodwood, Cape Town, where he said the initiative was intended to connect students’ capabilities with opportunities beyond the college environment.
“Our purpose is to make those moments possible for most students and to connect their capabilities with opportunities beyond the college gate,” Manamela said.
He said Northlink College and the Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority (SASSETA) entered into an agreement in December 2025 to invest in the project.
The investment included interactive boards across seven campuses, robotics equipment and five virtual reality learning sets.
He said the project also strengthened electronic submissions and approvals, as well as the management of projects, partnerships and accreditation.
He added that the hub benefited from additional Northlink investment through the AEON XR programme in support of the partnership.
“Our digital transition is taking place in a society already divided by unequal access to education, income, and opportunity,” he said.
“Some students arrive with years of experience using computers. Others literally touch their first computer once they enter a public college.”
He said some colleges were already experiencing competition for scarce technological resources, making interventions such as the Northlink hub necessary.
“If access to new technologies depend entirely on household income, we will reproduce old inequalities through new systems,” Manamela warned.
He said public institutions had a responsibility to prevent this outcome, adding that TVET colleges had to equip students with the practical and digital capabilities needed to support the economy.
He said the My NLC mobile application would allow students to access study materials, attend virtual classes, communicate with lecturers and receive academic updates.
He said students were already recognising the benefits of the intervention, citing feedback from the Student Representative Council (SRC) president.
However, Manamela cautioned that digital learning applications alone would not guarantee access to education.
“An application, however, still requires a usable device, data and connectivity,” he said.
He added that reliable campus access and support that took disability, language and different levels of digital experience into account were essential to ensuring meaningful participation and successful learning.
He said robotics and virtual reality could help students examine industrial processes, repeat tasks and learn from mistakes in controlled environments.
He stressed that these opportunities had to be linked to practical training, supervised workplace experience and credible assessments.
Manamela said students would be exposed to programmes in cybersecurity, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), data analysis and software development.
He also highlighted the importance of digital competence in the security sector, warning that weaknesses in digital systems and the careless handling of information could expose people and services to harm.
“A compromise system can interrupt services, careless handling of information, for instance, can expose people to harm,” he said.
He emphasised the need to invest in lecturers’ digital skills and continuous professional development, particularly in artificial intelligence training.
He said the training being undertaken at Northlink College should be shared with other colleges to strengthen lecturers’ ability to understand emerging technologies and transfer those skills to students.
On industry participation, Manamela said employers had a critical role to play in vocational education and training, particularly through work-integrated learning and workplace placements.
He called on SASSETA, Northlink College and the Department of Higher Education and Training to work together to mobilise industry and secure workplace placements for students.
He further called for workers already employed in the security sector and related fields to be reskilled and equipped with digital competencies.
Manamela also called for greater investment in locally developed technologies rather than relying exclusively on applications developed elsewhere.
He said students developing platforms and models to promote digital and financial literacy should be encouraged and supported.
He said the success of the investment should ultimately be measured by its impact on students, industry and surrounding communities.
“The goal will be have an impact on the students, let’s have an impact on industry, let’s have an impact in our communities and link this hub to those,” he said.
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