Internet Access and Access to Information is essential!

By Nomacebo Mbayo

Farm residents in Elsenberg are facing challenges of  internet access which include lack of  information access. The biggest challenge started when farm workers lost their jobs due to the lockdown as all the internet cafes were closed for business meaning people could not get access to print the necessary documents needed to enable them to claim for relevant assistance and other means had to be made.

Remote learning

This was a challenge on it’s own with the schools closed during the lockdown this meant moving to remote learning for a regular child who may never had an opportunity to use a computer before, for some of the families even owning a smartphone is a luxury. From finding the website for educational tools to downloading and printing documents on a daily basis or even working online was a huge problem. Another challenge for these farm workers, that came with using technology included the high cost of data, this was a big problem given the high rate of unemployment in the area. 

Social grant online applications

Celebrating a long overdue basic wage for the unemployed with a promise of compassion during COVID-19 subsidising the unemployed with R350 for 6 months. The residents in the area were keen to enjoy this benefit of the social relief grant but registration was a big problem. This is when the group of young women in the area from Sisterhood Teen girls started a mobile office to assist the unemployed people to apply for the social relief grant using both the SMS and the WhatsApp platform. Mobilisation was made which included making posters so that everyone in the area could have access to this information. “This is the best we could do to ensure that those who are unemployed get to benefit from this grant. At least this will put something on the table”, said Amber, a first year student from CPUT and a resident in this farm. “We were thinking of our community’s livelihood and what earning this R350 could mean to the unemployed people in our area”, she added. 

The youth set up this office ensuring that they do not break the COVID-19 regulations, they made sure that people practice social distancing and wear their masks during the process. 

The community was highly appreciative of this initiative and after 50 people were assisted, more people started coming out. With South Africa ranking the highest in the world when it comes to cost of data, the struggle for #DataMustFall continues.