Mail & Guardian Reporter South Africa has yet to realise the full effect the Internet and e-commerce could have on improving the lives of ordinary South Africans, even deep in the bundu, says multibillionaire Internet whiz Mark Shuttleworth.
OThe beauty of the Internet is that you are connected no matter how isolated,O he says. OThe Internet is a tremendous levelling, empowerment tool, which needs to be recognised.O
But the main obstacle is the prohibitive cost of installing the telecommunications network needed for the Internet. This has meant the Net is regarded as something for the privileged classes, while its potential contribution towards improving ordinary lives remains neglected. Shuttleworth will be speaking about the effects of e-commerce on globalisation at the 15th convention of the Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants in Southern Africa. OE-commerce and the Internet can improve everyoneOs life, but the critical issue in South Africa is cost. ItOs very expensive in South Africa to be part of the e- commerce revolution, 30 times more expensive than in the United States,O says Shuttleworth.
At the heart of this is the structure of South AfricaOs telecommunication providers: parastatal Telkom for landlines and two cellphone operators. The lack of competition means there is no incentive to provide services. And the people who would most benefit from the Internet and its services are locked out because of the structures. For example, access to information via the Internet in rural areas could be used for education, both formal and informal. Last December Shuttleworth (26) sold his Internet service company, Thatwe Consulting, for R3,5-billion to an American company. Local headlines proclaimed South Africa was unprepared for the companyOs success and soon thereafter Shuttleworth, who grew up in a small Free State town, was asked whether he would leave the country. In a country where making money is more often than not associated with mineral exports and the financial services sector, the potential of the Internet business and of youth has raised eyebrows. The four-year-old company provides digital certificates used by companies like Netscape and Microsoft for secure payments over the Internet. But Shuttleworth who continues living in Cape Town and working from the company offices on a Durbanville farmstead says the success should not really be a surprise.
OThe Internet means a fundamental change in the way South Africans manage their lives. It holds the promise of turning Africa from an environment of no sharing of information to a very viable community,O says Shuttleworth.
He predicts that within 10 years there could be another Internet revolution with the majority of users, particularly in Africa, able to access the Internet via their cellphones. But already now in the context of the South African economy there are pressing needs to radically and creatively rethink the relation to the World Wide Web, e-commerce and e-mail. Access to the Internet could help any young, poor person to overcome enormous physical and practical challenges that prevent him or her from being part of the economy, like being uncontactable by a prospective employer. OIf the economy is digital it doesnOt matter where you are. If there is access they have the opportunity to be part of it,O says Shuttleworth. What needs to be done to correct the situation? OItOs critical we reduce the cost of access to information, to [drive it] to the lowest possible. OTogether with this must come a culture of awareness, education and ability to manage information so that kids from the youngest age are hustling to get on the information highway.O