The Role of Politics in Telecentres: Cases from South Africa

Approaching Telecentres (Tcs)

A multi-purpose TC refers to a place providing “connectivity and access to information via a range of information and communication technologies including phone, fax, computers and the internet” (Bailur, 2007, p. 62). They can be run commercially as small businesses with some non-commercial features or they can be run by community organizations as non-profit and subsidized facilities for community benefit (Dymond et al., 2010).

Most of the ICT4D literature on TCs has been evaluations or studies commissioned by development or government agencies. These reports have been rather managerially oriented and deal with issues related to the success of TCs such as access, usage and sustainability, and lessons to be learnt from TCs based on case studies from developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. A pioneering and critical report was written by Benjamin (2001a, 2001b) about the first TCs in South Africa. There are examples of research into factors explaining the impact of TCs on poor communities, but their focus tends to be narrowed to the impact of certain managerial-organizational designs chosen (Parkinson, 2005; Kumar & Best, 2006; Dymond et al., 2010). Few efforts have been made at theorizing beyond generating operational knowledge, and local political and social contexts and factors are usually not part of the analytical-theoretical framework. There are two types of research about TCs that oppose the managerialist mainstream and emphasize politics.