CAPE Town is banking on its Smart Cape initiative to help job seekers and entrepreneurs find opportunities.
This comes as a survey by Deloitte showed a rise in frustration levels, with only 32% of graduates in SA believing their skills are fully utilised.
Cape Town’s Smart Cape facility offers free internet access in 100 libraries to registered users. The city sees this as an ideal tool for matriculants and job seekers who may be at a crossroads over their career choices and may not have access to the internet or daily newspapers to search for opportunities. Smart Cape is also meant to assist pupils conduct research online for school projects.
The Deloitte global millennial survey also found that the most desirable sector for South Africans to work in is professional services, at 54%, against the global figure of 39%.
Millennials surveyed were those born after 1982, employed full-time, who predominantly work in large (100-plus employees) private-sector organisations and have obtained a college or university degree.
Deloitte also found that 21% of those in SA would be keen to start their own businesses, compared with only 11% in developed markets.
Both the city of Cape Town and the Western Cape provincial government have aggressively pushed the rollout of broadband, which it sees as a key economic enabler.
Cape Town has set aside R222m over three years towards the rollout of broadband infrastructure throughout the metro — part of its R1.3bn broadband infrastructure programme to be completed over seven to 10 years.
Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for corporate services, Xanthea Limberg, said last week that new Smart Cape users can register at a library to make immediate use of the facility. Each user is allowed one free session a day for up to 45 minutes.
The time limit helps to manage the high demand for the facility during peak times. Should extra time be needed, this can be arranged with the administrator, depending on demand.
In some areas, the Smart Cape facility is available at community centres.
Chris Whelan, CEO of business think-tank Accelerate Cape Town, welcomed Smart Cape and the broadband rollout but urged authorities to move fast, especially in providing access to poorly serviced areas such as Khayelitsha and Langa. He said broadband was an "invaluable" resource to let pupils access a wealth of information and could create job opportunities.
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