Can e-governance aid young people in indigent communities gain access to higher education: Analysis from an action-research project in OR Tambo District

Abstract

The central theme of this thesis is to establish the effectiveness and the role that ICTs have in improving the livelihood of people in rural areas. Its intent is to demonstrate how the use of ICTs, in particular via the e-government approach can help to alleviate unemployment and poverty by assisting prospective students to gain access to higher education. The study focuses on the OR Tambo district (ORTD) which is one of the poorest districts in South Africa, part of the Eastern Cape Province, more specifically on Mankosi village, Ngqeleni Administrative Area (A/A) in Nyandeni Local Municipality. This inquiry is conducted through participatory action research, because it did not only seek to investigate and learn about the problems but, also to intervene and improve the current state of affair and thus improving the livelihoods of those involved. This model was chosen because of its commitment to social justice and equity, especially in powerless and disenfranchised communities such as Mankosi in ORTD. The study benefitted from a long-standing engagement project undertaken by University of the Western Cape (UWC) researchers with communities in ORTD. Consequently, in this thesis, I seek to establish how the availability of electronic government can assist to help young people from the rural Eastern Cape to attain access to higher education. Bearing in mind that Eastern Cape is one of the poorest provinces with, according to statistics from the Department of Social Development, the highest percentage of people living in poverty and the HIV prevalence is among the highest levels in the country. The O.R. Tambo district is the poorest district in the Eastern Cape in terms of all poverty measures. It has the lowest Human Development Index (HDI) (0.45) and the highest poverty gap (231 million) in the Eastern Cape. The number of people living in poverty is also high in this district (64.6%); unemployment is at 65, 5% and the literacy rate 42, 2%. (ECDSD, 2013).