The R3 million Mamaila Community Network (MCN) project, which seeks to connect rural communities in the Limpopo province, has made some progress despite being marred by allegations of funds misuse.
MCN is a project implemented and managed by the non-profit Zuri Foundation, in partnership with Mamaila Royal Council, and is powered by Kichose Technology.
It aims to provide school learners with access to educational content and affordable internet access for community members by creating WiFi hotspots in the six villages under Chief Mamaila.
The Zuri Foundation is a women-led licensed internet service provider and not-for-profit organisation based in Greater Letaba Municipality in Limpopo.
Its main focus is the deployment and management of digital infrastructure to bridge the digital divide in SA’s previously disadvantaged rural areas.
Zuri’s main objectives are to deploy community-based telecommunications infrastructure, provide digital skills development and capacity-building interventions, and enable communities to participate in the internet ecosystem.
According to MCN, in SA, the impact of the digital divide is mostly felt by citizens in rural provinces such as Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape.
Living on the fringe
The Mamaila Tribal Authority within the Greater Letaba Municipality in Limpopo is located on the periphery of telecommunication infrastructure such as fibre and ADSL, says MCN.
In cases where infrastructure is available, it says, the quality of service is poor, and is coupled with the high cost of communication.
The Greater Letaba Municipality has a population of 218 030 − the third-largest in terms of population in the Mopani District.
More than 40% of households live in poverty, with about 15% households with no source of income and over 70 000 citizens that are not economically active, compared to 25 000 employed people, says MCN.
It adds that less than 30% of the households earn between R9 601 to R19 600 per month.
The network was officially launched on 21 March, starting with six hotspots. MCN is funded by the Internet Society (ISOC).
In December 2019, ITWeb reported that US-based non-governmental organisation ISOC established a R440 000 ($30 000) investment fund to connect a rural Limpopo community.
At the time, the organisation, which aims to connect the world to the internet, announced it had awarded a grant to the ISOC Gauteng Chapter to open a media centre in Mamaila Village.
However, this funding has been marred by controversy following allegations the money was misused.
The MCN project was established as a result of the PhD action-research carried out by Kgopotso Ditshego Magoro, who was born and bred in Mamaila.
Magoro was recently nominated for the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa Social Responsibility award because of this initiative.
“It started as a PhD action-research that I am carrying out in my village (Mamaila). The action research has now evolved into a community intervention with the support of the Internet Society and Computer Aid,” Magoro tells ITWeb.
Computer Aid is another organisation that invested in the MCN project, with Magoro saying the overall investment pumped into the initiative is close to R3 million.
ITWeb understands Computer Aid will soon announce and officially launch a computer lab as part of the project.
“The ISOC Gauteng Chapter, who were the grant recipients to help connect Mamaila Tribal Authority, spent it [the grant] on things that were not meant for the project and provided false reports to ISOC,” she says. “They could not account for how they spent the money for the benefit of the project as reported in your 2019 article.
ITWeb sent questions to the ISOC in the US about these allegations but had not received feedback by the time of publication.
However, according to Magoro, the ISOC Gauteng Chapter was disbanded when the accusations surfaced.
“The perpetrators are no longer part of ISOC. Gauteng Chapter closed down,” she says. “The Internet Society stepped in to provide funding to deliver the project, as the community was already expecting they will be connected. They launched an investigation and found that, indeed, money was misused.”
Magoro says besides these setbacks, the project has made progress after deploying backhaul infrastructure that connects six villages under Chief Mamaila.
She explains the first phase connected six hotspots (local businesses) that sell the data bundles and allow members of the community to access the internet.
There are also plans to expand the rural connectivity project, she notes.
“The aim is to create more hotspots and ensure people do not walk too far to access the WiFi. The aim is to bring connectivity closer to the people in all the six villages. Therefore, our expansion strategy will be the creation of more hotspots within the benefiting villages, with the intention to work with other interested villages who will like to learn from MCN and the Zuri Foundation.”
She points out the current licence is only for Mamaila Tribal Authority, and expansion to other areas will require a different licence.
“I would say the project has been well-received, judging by how ordinary members of the community – young and old – participated and continue to participate in things like the deployment of infrastructure, creating awareness of the services, and business people agreeing to host the hotspots.
“The uptake and usage of the WiFi is also growing, with young people such as Bokamoso Radio using the network to do live broadcasts of their online radio. Other members of the community are expressing the need to be connected at the household level.”
On the other challenges the project has encountered, Magoro lists vandalism, theft of cell tower batteries, as well as power cables as some of the biggest issues.
"An MCN tower was once attacked before it could even operate because of battery theft. The services are also affected by load-shedding,” she says.
"I think the project has made good progress. I would like to focus on the positive developments instead of the misuse of funding by Gauteng Chapter; although this is still an important part of the narrative because it shows the exploitation by those who have access to resources.
“My aim is to showcase that given the opportunity, ordinary people or communities can contribute towards bridging the digital divide, provided the environment is enabling and conducive. We have one of the best infrastructures and the whole project is informed by academic research, which is about a holistic approach to digital transformation,” she concludes.
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