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Project Isizwe, a not-for-profit organisation based in the city of Tshwane, is currently working with government bodies across South Africa to bring free public WiFi to the country. 

“We all understand the value of Internet connectivity,” Zahir Khan, the CEO of Project Isizwe, explains, “especially in terms of educational benefits, improved healthcare services, better opportunities for economic development — and, of course, social cohesion. From that perspective it’s critical to connect the country sooner rather than later.”

In 2013, a bid to connect every citizen was launched across the city of Tshwane. To date, it is Project Isizwe’s largest deployment effort, with 850 Free Internet Zones (FIZs) installed in the local area and almost two million unique users accessing the web since November of 2013. By 2018, Tshwane will have WiFi within walking distance of every citizen. 

installation of 213 Internet access points outside of schools in Tshwane.

This ensures that every learner, educator and community member in and around the schools is connected”.

Rural environments in South Africa also stand to benefit from the efforts of Project Isizwe,

these locations is admittedly more of a challenge

remote regions, state revenue is limited, thus it is more difficult to get these communities online.

“Funding has been the biggest barrier for expansion across the entire country,” Khan says.

Project Isizwe’s not-for-profit status

the project operates exclusively under cost-recovery: it doesn’t charge users for its service and the large-scale financial benefits of WiFi access for South Africa will not be immediately evident.

Research by the World Bank has shown that a 10 percent increase in what is called ‘broadband penetration’, the amount of the Internet access market that has been captured by high-speed broadband, will result in a 1.3 percent increase in a country’s GDP. 

access to an affordable mobile device

was also a barrier to Internet access in South Africa

cost of these items has fallen

Project Isizwe has deployed in rural environments, places as remote as the mountain village of Tshedza in Limpopo province

are finding creative ways to reach out into their newly-connected world.

Khan cites the story of Martin Nyokolodi, a young man in Tshwane who has launched his own Internet radio station, among his favourites. Not only does Nyokolodi utilise the City’s ‘TshWi-Fi’ service to broadcast his programme, he also takes Skype calls from listeners and maintains the station’s social media presence on the network.

Restaurant owners in proximity to a WiFi hotspot have been setting up shelters within signal range so that customers can access the web

these makeshift ‘Internet cafes’ have increased restaurant profits by as much as 80 percent

Internet has helped to streamline the process of care and diagnosis in South Africa’s clinics and medical facilities.

In its National Development Plan 2030, the government of South Africa states that it wants universally available Internet across the country in 14 years’ time. 

“The public hotspots become a place to bridge the digital divide, where regardless of personal circumstance or background, everyone has access to the same Internet,” Khan says.