FREE INTERNET ACCESS IN CAPE TOWN

Cape Town offers free Internet access to those who do not own computers or who cannot afford Internet fees. This is through the City of Cape Town's Smart Cape Access Project, launched in July 2002 in six public libraries across the city. A year later, te project was awarded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Access to Learning 2003 Award. Anyone can use the computers for up to forty-five minutes per day, Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 16:00. From its launch until November 2007, over 100 000 people had made use of the access. Since the pilot project in six libraries, the project now has almost 135 000 registered users in 97 public libraries.