Maritha Snyman

Getting information to disadvantaged rural communities:the centre approach

The South African Constitution entrenches the right of every citizen to receive or impart information or ideas. Information and communications technology (lCT) can play an important role in facilitating the upgrading of education, health care, recreation and other services, by improving the quality of information available and by providing communities throughout the country with access to expertise and usable information. One of the objectives of the article is to indicate how the government envisaged and implemented its resolve to improve the communications technology infrastructure for the dissemination of usable information to rural disadvantaged communities by focusing on the centre approach. A second objective is to report on the present status - successes and failures - of the most important of these initiatives.