Evidence wa ka Ngobeni
The government in partnership with the Post Office has concluded a multi-faceted, R21-million telecommunications project to help the poor and the illiterate to access government services on-line.
Dubbed the Public Information Terminal (PiT), the government hopes the multimillion-rand initiative will help bridge the digital divide by providing the public, particularly those living in remote and rural areas to apply for birth, identity and marriage certificates with the press of a button.
The PiT, which was launched as a pilot project in 1998, has multimedia capability to allow communities to access the Internet, personal e-mail services and government information through desktop kiosks placed at the Post Office outlets across the country.
Post Office officials said the government through the Department of Communications chose to use their outlets as they are easily accessible to the majority of South Africans, especially in the more remote areas. The Post Office has since deployed 100 desktop kiosks across the country as part of the first phase of the PiT project.
The desktop kiosks, which have been installed at an initial cost of R13,5-million, boast an easy-to-use touch-screen interface, speakers, microphones and a webcam.
Using the PiT desktop kiosks is currently free, but users will have to regi-ster and obtain a prepaid smart card in future. The smart card will allow the users to activate the PiT machine. However, issues surrounding service charges for using the PiT kiosk are still being negotiated in government circles, given the low disposable income that most people have.
With the official roll-out of the PiT project, users will pay for some of the services provided but access to government information services will remain free.
According to Newyear Ntuli, senior manager of e-business at the Post Office, communities will no longer have to queue at the home affairs offices for services such as passport and ID book application forms.
The PiT, Ntuli said, allows users to download passport and ID book application forms. Small businesses will also have access to online e-business services, Ntuli said.
“The PiT is an open information system based on Internet technology and provides a market for the small-business sector to advertise their products and expand their businesses,” Ntuli said.
Ntuli said the second phase of the PiT project will involve various major programmes, such as the development of the webcam an Internet-based camera.
Ntuli said the webcam will expose underprivileged communities to the comfort of interacting on the cyberspace. Ntuli said the PiT project is just one of the government-driven projects aimed at closing the gap between the information haves and have-nots.
Ntuli, who believes that the digital divide is widening, said it was initiatives such as the PiT that could ensure that the country’s poor are not excluded from the information revolution.
The Post Office is also developing a paymaster system, an electronic bill pay and presentment project, which will provide improved convenience for poor communities and the Post Office’s customers.
Called Pay-a-Bill the project, Ntuli said, will be up and running in about five months. The system will allow communities to pay their utilities accounts electronically. The Pay-a-Bill system will accept cash and cheques.
Users will also in future be able to use their credit and bank debit cards.
“Paying bills electronically is one of the fast and efficient ways of paying an account,” Ntuli said.