The Western Cape government and Microsoft this weekend opened the e-Googlethu Cape Access Centre, in Gugulethu, a township within Cape Town. The centre will supply the community with free access to 30 computers and the Internet.
The project, which was launched at the ID Mkhize High School, in Gugulethu, on Saturday, is a joint venture between the provincial government and Microsoft.
Western Cape premier Lynne Brown, officially opening the centre, said the launch was further proof government`s "people-first" strategy (Batho Pele) was delivering more efficient ways of providing services to communities.
"The Western Cape government, in partnership with Microsoft, has now set up 14 e-Community Forums and 19 e-centres in under-serviced communities of the Western Cape, through the Cape Access Project," said Brown. "This project is a model for public-private partnerships which benefit underprivileged communities."
Virginia Petersen, provincial director-general; Hilton Arendse, director of the province`s Centre for e-Innovation; and Themba Mdlalose, Microsoft`s community affairs manager, accompanied Brown.
"This is not just simply a launch of a computer centre, this is a revolution," said Cape Access programme manager Refilwe Tshabalala. "It is a revolution because it has the potential to and will change people`s lives - all the community needs to do is to use the facilities which have been provided to them."
Cape Access is an award-winning Western Cape government project that has helped to mobilise and empower poorer communities by providing free access to e-mail and the Internet. These communities now have access to government and other Web sites, which - especially in the current economic climate - will help people in poor communities to access crucial online services such as job portals.
Also, people who use the centre will able to communicate directly with government and have access to important information about new business opportunities and a host of other services.
Saturday`s launch coincided with the visit to SA, 12 years ago, by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, who pledged to establish technology access centres to provide appropriate information technology within SA`s disadvantaged communities.
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