The Impact of Free Municipal Wi-Fi on the Citizens’ Right to the City, Good Governance, and Service Delivery in an African Context: the Perspectives of the Residents of Pretoria Central Business District (CBD) in the City of Tshwane, South Africa

Mathane, Tlou Phillemon and Gumbo, Trynos (2023) The Impact of Free Municipal Wi-Fi on the Citizens’ Right to the City, Good Governance, and Service Delivery in an African Context: the Perspectives of the Residents of Pretoria Central Business District (CBD) in the City of Tshwane, South Africa. LET IT GROW, LET US PLAN, LET IT GROW. Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable Resilient Smart Green and Blue Cities. Proceedings of REAL CORP 2023, 28th International Conference on Urban Development, Regional Planning and Information Society. pp. 709-718. ISSN 2521-3938

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Abstract

Just after the year 2010, big cities in South Africa started to introduce programmes to provide free data, especially to their disadvantaged communities. This came in the context of a broader appreciation that access to data is no more a luxury, but rather a basic necessity for daily livelihood in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. The increasing explosion of the fourth industrial revolution is been driven partly by the pervasive digitization of things, which results in big volumes and a variety of data flowing from heterogeneous sources at increasing velocity. In this regard, all eight (8) metropolitan municipalities in South Africa (Buffalo City, Tshwane, Johannesburg, eThekwini, Ekurhuleni, Mangaung, Nelson Mandela Bay, and Cape Town) are currently implementing free Wi-Fi programmes to improve access to data. Some of the secondary cities in South Africa have also followed suit. Non-governmental role players have also started to provide free wireless internet sites as well. These efforts are most commendable in an African context, noting that the average internet penetration level in Africa is approximately 43.1%, compared to the global average of 66.2%. Significantly, these interventions are also commendable because they are in sync with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, that of building sustainable cities and communities. However, from an empirical research perspective, the impact of such incredible initiatives on imperatives such as improving the citizen’s right to the city, good governance, and enhanced service delivery in an African context is yet to be fully understood. So, the question is: to what extent can free municipal Wi-Fi to assist citizens to realize these three development imperatives, viz: realize their right to the city, good governance, and enhanced service delivery? To this end, this study empirically investigated the perspectives of the residents in the Pretoria Central Business District (CBD) in the City of Tshwane, South Africa. The City of Tshwane is the Capital City of South Africa. This study utilized a case study design and is qualitative in nature. Both primary and secondary sources were used. Fifty (50) residents in the Pretoria CBD responded to a randomly administered online survey. The results were analyzed by categorical aggregation and content analysis. The findings reveal that the Pretoria CBD residents feel that the Tshwane free Wi-Fi is making more impact in enabling the citizens to enjoy the informational right to the city and good governance, and lesser compared to improving service delivery. In conclusion, the researchers recommend an expansion of more free Wi-Fi sites in the Pretoria CBD to accommodate an increasing student population in the area, to make the Pretoria CBD more liveable, and sustainable, and to entrench social justice. However, the City of Tshwane would need to find an innovative funding model because the free Wi-Fi programmes are not cheap.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Sustainable Development, Sustainability, Smart city, Free Wi-Fi. Tshwane
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Computer software
Depositing User: REAL CORP Administrator
Date Deposited: 02 Oct 2023 19:45
Last Modified: 04 Oct 2023 17:45
URI: http://repository.corp.at/id/eprint/986

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