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74 Table 53: Number of Personal Computers per 100 of the population of Swaziland Year Value 2000 1.17 2001 1.55 2002 2.42 2003 2.9 2004 3.48 2005 4.07 2006 4.08 Source: United Nations Statistics Division. 8.7 Mbabane Local Government Mbabane (Swati: ÉMbábáne), with an estimated population of 95,000 (2007), is the capital and largest city of Swaziland. It is located on the Mbabane River and its tributary the Polinjane River in the Mdimba Mountains. It is located in the district of Hhohho, of which it is also the capital. The population (estimated) in 1987 was 30,000. The town grew after the nation’s administrative centre moved from Bremersdorp (now called Manzini) in 1902. It derives its name from a Chief, Mbabane Kunene, who lived in the area when British settlers arrived. It is also a commercial hub for the surrounding region, while tin and iron were mined nearby 93 . The Municipal Council of Mbabane is governed by the Urban Government Act of 1969. It is a progeny of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development which is responsible for general governance of the urban areas in Swaziland. The Minister of Housing and Urban Development delegates most of his powers to the public to run the affairs of their own urban community. The public then elects a body of Councillors to form the Municipal Council which will in turn exercise the delegated authority to run the municipality. The Council enjoys a certain degree of autonomy. The responsibility of the Council is to make policies and draw different pieces of legislation necessary for the implementation of these policies. The minister, however, has to assent fi rst to most of these operations. The Council employs a Town Clerk (Chief Executive Offi cer or City Manager) to implement the policies and dictates pronounced at Council convergences. This offi cer reports direct to Council and in certain instances, to the minister. The other offi cers that are directly employed by the Councillors are the Directors of Public Works, Health and Finance. These offi cers can only be dismissed by the Council. The rest of the managers and staff are employed at the instance of the Chief Executive Offi cer 94 . Mbabane, and Swaziland itself, depend on tourism and sugar exports. The city has two sites for light industries. 8.8 E-Readiness Analysis for Mbabane 93 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbabane 94 http://www.mbabane.ord.sz/ E-Readiness analysis for Mbabane based on questionnaire (see appendix). The electricity supply within the local government area is very good. Most households have access to a radio, TV and mobile phone access is very high. The availability of computers to households was average with the cost of internet access being high. Not many residents can easily afford to access the internet due to this high cost. On governance, responses indicate that the local government authority has shown a high commitment to the use if ICT for service delivery and these executives themselves have good competence in basic computer skills e.g. in browsing the internet, sending
email and creating documents. The local government staff are also highly competent in this area. We could not assess the most important channels of information fl ow between the different departments and staff of the local government due to that part of the questionnaire not being editable and therefore the respondents could not fi ll it in. This problem was rectifi ed for the other questionnaires. More than 75% of the local government staff has access to a computer. The staff have had training in MS Word and Excel and just recently also had training in fi nancial management systems. The local government authority has a website at: http://www.mbabane.org.sz/ that has information such as the mission statement, vision and contact details of executive heads of the different departments. It also describes the municipality in the about us section and has some information on the current weather conditions in Mbabane. A few documents are available for download indicating some publish aspect of E-Governance. The main channels of communication between the general public and business on one hand, and the local government authority on the other, was still largely over the counter; meaning face-to-face. Telephone was next in intensity of use followed by mail/fax or courier. For now video conferencing technology has not been used. Interactive billing, customer accounts management and integrated GIS are some ICT E-Governance initiatives currently underway within the municipality. With regards to ICT policies and guidelines, administrative and IT hardware and software procurement policies are in place. Schools within the local government have a limited amount of computers for the students and staff and learners with disabilities have very limited possibilities to access spacialised computers for their use. Teachers and trainers have a limited ability to teach with computers and how to integrate them into classroom learning. Residents have only a small awareness and understanding of the potential of ICT for development. There was no response on the form as of ICT related education/ awareness that take place at the community level. Respondents did not know if the local government had had any experiences in utilising ICT for cultural/heritage entertainment products or services. Respondents either did not know or ware not themselves aware if there has been any earlier ICT related survey on the e-competence or infrastructure of the local government area. Strenghtening e-Governance in the North-South Local Government Co-operation Programme 75
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North-South Local Government Co-ope
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North-South Local Government Co-ope
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6 4.6 Other ICT Statistics ________
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8 knowledge is utilised, policy is
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10 ICT4AD Information and Communica
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1.1 Motivation for the Study 12 Mun
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1.4 Limitations 14 community’s ma
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16 public administration and govern
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18 Figure 1: The Big Picture of e-G
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20 G2G: Government to Government in
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22 centers, mobile devices, it beco
Page 24 and 25: 2.10 E-Inclusion 24 range of online
Page 26 and 27: 26 It is important to note, however
Page 28 and 29: 28 The next chapter provides an env
Page 30 and 31: 30 Government Act of 1993 further e
Page 32 and 33: 32 in education. The syllabus from
Page 34 and 35: 34 Table 7: Personal computers per
Page 36 and 37: 4 Tanzania 4.1 Background and Gover
Page 38 and 39: 38 Even so, there was no single age
Page 40 and 41: 40 Table 11: Cellular subscribers f
Page 42 and 43: 42 local government structure estab
Page 44 and 45: 5 Kenya 5.1 Background and Governme
Page 46 and 47: 46 Act, which set up the Communicat
Page 48 and 49: 48 Table 19: Number of Internet Hos
Page 50 and 51: 50 Table 25: Number of Personal com
Page 52 and 53: 52 is very high. The availability o
Page 54 and 55: 54 � � � 6.3 Economy 0-14 yea
Page 56 and 57: 56 up as a strategic government ini
Page 58 and 59: 58 Table 33: Cellular subscribers p
Page 60 and 61: 6.6 The Local Government of Tshwane
Page 62 and 63: 7 Namibia 7.1 Background and Govern
Page 64 and 65: 7.5 Namibia Telecommunications Prof
Page 66 and 67: 66 Table 43: Number of Internet use
Page 68 and 69: 68 More than 75% of the local gover
Page 70 and 71: 70 � � � 8.3 Economy 8.4 ICT
Page 72 and 73: 8.5 Other ICT Statistics 72 Table 4
Page 76 and 77: 9 Summary Conclusions and Recommend
Page 78 and 79: References 78 Belize National ICT P
Page 80 and 81: 80 http://www.iclei.org/index.php?i
Page 82 and 83: 82 Please�indicate�how�much
Page 84 and 85: � � � � 84 15. What�e�G
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