SAPO's eCadres encourage technology use

Johannesburg, 24 May 2006

The South African Post Office (SAPO) has begun the selection and training of volunteering information officers to aid in demystifying public Internet terminals (PITs) and Internet business centres (IBC) to previously disadvantage individuals.

The Post Office's PITs total 700 and it has 45 IBCs operational. These facilities provide tools to enhance a patron's experience of products and services and provide access to government services, explained acting CIO Siphiwe Radebe, at the programme's unveiling yesterday.

"Our eCadres are volunteers from communities that are trained in both the use and support of the facilities to aid others to use them, in order to bridge the digital divide," he said.

According to Radebe, this programme is the result of the uncertainty and fear that many potential users have been displaying towards technology.

So far, 100 eCadre areas have been identified and 18 eCadres have been deployed in the Witwatersrand and the northern regions of Gauteng. The programme will be phased in on a province-by-province basis for the remaining 82 areas, explained Radebe.

"The government has tasked us with the responsibility of enhancing the country's integration into the global economy," said group CEO Khutso Mampeule. "To achieve this, we need to change technophobia to techno-love."

Commenting on the eCadres, he said: "In addition to being IT specialists, they are champions, marketers, educators and ambassadors."

Further training of eCadres will include marketing and entrepreneurial skills, "so that they can understand the end-users better," explained Radebe. "We need them to put themselves in the end-users' shoes and not feel as if they are merely doing them a favour."