Closing the Digital Divide in Mankosi

Driving through the rural villages of the Eastern Cape in South Africa you will see limited infrastructure, gravel roads, and communities where economic opportunity feels distant. Yet in Mankosi village, a team of dedicated staff at the Mankosi Solar Community Hub are doing something extraordinary – they’re walking these roads, laptops in hand, developing a social enterprise among communities who have been side-lined by the digital revolution.

The Dell Hub solare comunitario based in Mankosi,  is an off-grid computer lab run by Zenzeleni Networks, an award winning NGO. Zenzeleni’s primary focus is on the deployment of affordable, accessible and quality internet to rural communities in the Nyandeni district. Their hub opened in 2021 as a means of providing meaningful technology access and services in Mankosi and the surrounding communities. It offers a range of internet cafe-type services, accredited digital literacy training, after-school student support, help with scholarship applications, resume building and a safe space for community training initiatives. One of Zenzeleni’s initiatives called the Circular economy program,  involves selling refurbished laptops to community members. In a country where research suggests that only about 16% of households have access to a computer, device ownership remains a critical barrier to digital inclusion.

Refurbished laptops are donated by Dell, through Computer Aid International, to hubs that are part of the Solar Community Hub project. 450 laptops will be allocated to hubs in South Africa and 120 specifically to Mankosi. Remote communities like Mankosi can access these laptops at locally affordable prices. This helps local partners, like Zenzeleni  offset up to 60% of their own monthly operational costs, ensuring that people in socioeconomically marginalised areas own quality devices. While full laptop sponsorship might seem ideal, the sale model serves a dual purpose: ensuring both device affordability and lab sustainability.

Zenzeleni’s General Manager Yumna Panday says, “The reality in many communities is that people have to choose between buying data to access the internet, or a loaf of bread to eat. Owning a laptop is often not possible. However, having our sponsors cover the basic costs enables us to offer laptops to communities at prices up to 50% lower than comparable refurbished devices on the local market.”

Many laptops are sold with payment plans, allowing families to pay in instalments. The income raised helps to cover staff salaries, lab expenses, and subsidises the provision of community services at the lab like printing, CV writing, computer and internet access, and of course digital literacy training. Yumna Panday says: “We know that even at our discounted prices, many people still can’t afford their own laptop, but they can always come and use our lab. In a context where many NGOs struggle to raise funding to cover their overheads, this model has been essential to sustainability. Community development is slow work – you can’t solve complex socioeconomic issues overnight.”

The Circular Economy program has been running for almost two years at a few participating labs, and all have successfully used this method to offset either all, or a significant portion of their operational costs. The population can also have their IT equipment repaired at the lab or sent to a recycling facility in Johannesburg if it’s too damaged.

“We are seeing proof of the model’s viability even in areas with very limited economic activity,” says Violet Mohotloane, the Executive Director of Computer Aid International South Africa. “By using refurbished laptops, we are essentially creating a triple benefit. This includes reusing unused quality equipment; providing communities with access to affordable technology; and generating financial sustainability by transitioning labs from grant dependency to social enterprises that can sustain the provision of subsidised services within communities.”

The work of selling laptops is incredibly challenging. In an area with 90% unemployment and low population density, finding buyers requires patience and creativity. Gladys Sigcau, Zenzeleni’s lab manager and her team often walk through the villages, building relationships and informing people about technology – one conversation at a time. This leads to increased interest, and sales. Gladys says: “Most people in our communities have never used a computer before and it has taken us years to build knowledge and interest in technologies. Now we have a client base of people who buy our laptops. They often buy these to help the education of their children or grandchildren.”

Each laptop sale represents not just a transaction, but an investment. This is the invisible work of closing the digital divide – not the flashy launches or big announcements, but the patient, persistent effort of carrying technology across difficult landscapes, to reach those who need it most. In a world where access to devices and digital skills increasingly determines opportunity, Zenzeleni’s team is literally walking the extra miles to ensure their community isn’t left behind.

Zenzeleni’s Solar Community Hub was deployed with funding from Tecnologie Dell e Utelizzare, with ongoing partner support and management provided by Computer Aid International.