The Universal Services Agency (USA) will open a digital hub in Phuthaditjaba in the Free State region of Qwaqwa on Monday, the agency says.
The Maluti A-Phofung Community Digital Hub will empower emerging farmers in the area by providing them with access to PCs, Internet, e-mail and multimedia services, according to Sandile Nzuza, public relations officer for the agency.
The R2.5 million hub was developed in partnership with the Department of Communications and the Free State Department of Agriculture.
"Agri Free State Farmers Union will provide agricultural content that will help emerging farmers to develop business skills and expertise in agriculture," Nzuza says.
Communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri and Free State premier Beatrice Marshoff are expected to be main speakers at the opening event, she adds.
The Maluti A-Phofung hub includes a PC refurbishment centre, which was established in collaboration with Microsoft SA. Students from the region were recruited for the programme, which will teach them computer refurbishment skills. I-Tsela, a local company, provides the students with the technical expertise.
The refurbished computers will be sent to local schools, libraries, clinics and community centres. In the three months since the centre began operations, 243 computers have been refurbished.
The Maluti A-Phofung hub is the second the agency has opened since it began the programme. The first opened in November in Craddock. By the end of 2006, the agency aims to have opened two additional hubs, Nzuza says.
"The target is to develop 10 digital hubs in communities identified by president Thabo Mbeki as having low teledensity."
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