Context: Internet as a tool for communication, information and participation among tertiary students in Namibia

3.1 Internet in the African context

The widespread use of the new information technology has not reached the broader population in the developing world. For the most part, only segments of the upper classes and a few institutions and organisations have access to the new medium. This fact easily accelerates a development with a few "on-lines" communicating with each other nationally as well as globally. The digital divide is expanded by this selective globalisation, and in addition seems to widen the gap between rich and poor. Francisco Rodriguez and Ernest Williams report "Are Poor Countries Losing the Information Revolution?" investigates how access to communication and ICT are divided between the countries of the world.[11] In a comparison between the OECD countries and the countries in Southeast Asia, they find that the average OECD country has eleven times as large GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita, but 40 times as many computers, 146 times more mobile phones and 1036 as many Internet hosts. According to International Data Corporation, of the world's 544.2 million Internet hosts, 4.15 million are situated in Africa, per February 2002. The table below illustrates the rapid growth of Internet hosts globally from February 2000 to February 2002.[12]

The acceleration of the numbers of Internet hosts is illuminated by the fact that in February 2000, the numbers were 275.54 for the world and 2.46 for Africa. In February 2002, the figures were 544.2 million for the world and 4.15 million for Africa. The increase for all regions is remarkable, but the speed of increase is slowest in the African region. In spite of the increase of Internet hosts in Africa, the figures speak for themselves. Africa is far behind the rest of the world in numbers. Considering the vastness of the African continent, the differentiation among the regions is of course striking. In addition, the vast majority of Internet hosts in Africa are located to one nation, South Africa.[13]

The facts in the tables above could certainly discourage anyone from investigating access to Internet in Africa and specifically about the possibilities of Africa to get on the IT highway. But the low access in Africa makes an investigation of the situation in a particular space and time (since certainly all the African countries have their own particular IT development), even more interesting. The fast pace of increase in connectivity in the rest of the world indicates that what we see in Africa and particularly in Namibia today is the beginning of an IT expansion.

3.2 Real access

The Internet is contributing to an increased flow of information. A problematic aspect of this flow, in relation to democracy, is the difficulty of making an impact, and respectively, to distinguish useful and relevant information when the mass of information is overwhelming.

Another problematic aspect of Internet communication is the increased speed of information and communication. In particular international trade in currency is a destabilising factor in national and global politics. These factors increase the demands on both decision makers and "ordinary" citizens to select, interpret and critically examine any information originating from the Internet. Particularly in the industrialised world where people are connected to a very large degree, they constitute factors that have a crucial impact on the quality of access.

In the context of the developing world, a third critical factor concerns the concept of real access. "Computers and connections are insufficient if the technology is not used effectively because it is not affordable; if people do not understand how to put it to use or if they are discouraged from using it; or if the local economy cannot sustain its use".

These words come from Bridges.org,[14] an international ICT organisation that has set up the following relevant issues as determining factors regarding "real access" to technology:

• Physical access. Is technology available and physically accessible?
• Appropriate technology. What is the appropriate technology according to local conditions, and how people need and want to put technology to use?
• Affordability. Is technology access affordable for people to use?
• Capacity. Do people understand how to use technology and its potential uses?
• Relevant content. Is there locally relevant content, especially in terms of language?
• Integration. Does the technology further burden people's lives or does it integrate into daily routines?
• Socio-cultural factors. Are people limited in their use of technology based on gender, race, or other socio-cultural factors?
• Trust. Do people have confidence in and understand the implications of the technology they use, for instance in terms of privacy, security, or cybercrime?
• Legal and regulatory framework. How do laws and regulations affect technology use and what changes are needed to create an environment that fosters its use?
• Local economic environment. Is there a local economy that can and will sustain technology use?
• Macro-economic environment. Is national economic policy conducive to widespread technology use, for example, in terms of transparency, deregulation, investment, and labour issues?
• Political will. Is there political will in government to do what is needed to enable the integration of technology throughout society?[15]

These factors are all relevant for analysing real access and in addition have crucial implications regarding possibilities for utilising Internet as a tool for participation in the democratic process. I will later refer to some of the issues in my discussion and analysis of my findings. The cost of this new technology, at an initial stage, is high. Who can afford to buy and/or use the new technology? If there are public investments in ICT, the citizens can benefit from the technology, but of course the investments in infrastructure need to be quite extensive. Everything from electricity, extended bandwidth to the computer hardware and software and know how, need to be implemented for the citizens to be able to benefit. Once the infrastructure is there, the Internet may well prove to be a factor that narrows the gap between rich and poor, when cheap access to information is concerned. In many countries, if access is kept at a reasonable cost, it is cheaper to read newspapers on the Internet than buying it on the street. This is the case in Namibia and many other countries in Southern Africa where the price of newspapers is increasing at a worrying pace.

A particular problem, connected to the cost of access, is the fact that in many developing countries there is a tendency for the growth of telecommunication sector being hampered by state monopoly. This significantly increases the cost of connectivity. This factor seems to be a limiting issue in the Namibian context.

3.3. Political and social context of the students

In many countries in the southern African region, for instance Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, the current national leaderships originate from the liberation movements. Namibia's first democratic elections were held in 1990, when South Africa left the country after several years of occupation. The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) won a significant majority and independent Namibia could start the hard work of loosening the grip of institutional apartheid. SWAPO's dominance was further secured at the elections of 1994 and 1998. However, the low participation in the election suggests an increase in dissatisfaction. Political development has been characterised by the government's attempts to bring about national reconciliation after the years of apartheid.

The constitution is based on democratic ideals and the country's politics are founded on respect for human rights. However, SWAPO's strong position, in combination with the weak opposition, has in practice led to a one-party state. This tendency has been intensified after a number of corruption scandals within the administration and on account of a change in the constitution, which gave President Nujoma the opportunity to control the country for a third period of office. The country's independent media, in spite of its small distribution and size, plays an important part in the scrutiny of the political system.

In the ruling SWAPO state apparatus, there is a tendency towards a growing intolerance against any opposition, and violations on the right to free expression are frequent. Due to the fact that most party officials have a background in the liberation struggle, there generally exists a relatively high amount of tolerance among the public, concerning the Government's shortcomings in some (even if vital) aspects of democracy, such as corruption scandals and infringements on press freedom. SWAPO, similar to other parties in Southern Africa[16] has managed to maintain control over the state apparatus. "They have obtained power of definition within the political environment and discourse of their societies and operate with rather strict concepts of inclusion/exclusion in terms of the nation building process..." 'National interest' serves as an instrumental concept, which is subject to highly biased and selective interpretations by those in control."[17] The relative lack of an active political opposition and popular participation in the political process and public debate, are conditions that constitute a manifest threat to democratic development in the region. The irony of it, in the case of Southern Africa, is that the present ruling elite, which reacts with defensive responses to editorial criticism, not long ago, was part of a political liberation movement that as part of its mandate, fought for the rights of expression and information.

For instance, in March 2001, the Namibian government initiated an advertising boycott on "The Namibian" newspaper, claiming the newspaper was too critical of its policies. Government departments were reminded in March to heed the cabinet decision "with immediate effect."In May, President Sam Nujoma ordered a total ban on the purchase of "The Namibian" by the Namibian government. The president's directive and earlier cabinet decision to ban government ministries from advertising in the newspaper were issued on the grounds that the newspaper maintained an "anti-government stance."[18]

The low educational level is still an obstacle to democracy, though Namibia has since Independence in 1990 every year used 25% of its GNP on education, and the literacy rate is quite high, 80% for the total population and 90% for ages 15-24 in 1998. School enrolment increased to the level of 95% in 2000.[19] Still, most people do not have the fundamental skills needed to act in a modern democracy.[20] The government's continued dedication to public education expenditure, mainly on the primary and secondary levels, is a tremendously important prerequisite for an increased level of peoples' participation in the local, regional and national democratic process.[21] Also the right to information is fundamental to democracy. In a democracy you need an independent press you can rely on, but in southern Africa the role of the independent press is more diverse and perhaps crucial than in the long established democracies. In most southern African countries, political opposition is weak, and the independent press easily becomes the only real opposition and therefore frequently become a target for the government's anger and propaganda.

The HIV/Aids pandemic is another complicating and limiting factor. The pandemic is omnipresent in the whole southern African region, and an issue of great concern to the students at all levels. In Namibia the disease has become the main cause of death since 1996. It is estimated that about 20%, one in five, of the population aged between 15 and 49 are infected.[22] The number of orphans is growing at a rapid pace.

Namibia is aiming at fighting the pandemic with a "multi-sectoral approach". Regarding the education sector, the effects of HIV/Aids are being analysed for instance in the Strategic Plan 2001-2006 of the Ministry of Basic Education, Sports and Culture. Among the factors that are being considered to have a major impact on the sector are increased periods of illness and mortality among teachers and students and an increased number of orphans and others affected by the illness needing care and counselling. The financial cost of fighting HIV/Aids is also expected to have an affect on the availability of resources for the educational sector. The ministry is, at the time of writing, working on the estimated costs.

To minimise the spread of HIV/Aids, the sector is planning to continuously provide information to relevant target groups in schools, staff and students, and to help those infected and affected by the disease, social support networks are proposed to aid learners and staff, and training programmes for specific target groups in counselling skills are planned to be put in place by 2003.

The executive secretariat members of SASU expressed particular concern with the aspect of de-stigmatising the disease. The strategy proposed for this was increased information about the facts of the illness and the "coming out" of students who are infected in addition to student representatives openly testing for HIV/Aids and publicising the results. The SASU web page was proposed to be an important channel for this vital information.

The new information technology has not reached the broader segments of the population in Southern Africa. But also nationally, the gap between rich and poor - between the informed and the uninformed, increases.

"Any major new technology introduced into a society which is not, by its nature a 'just' society will exacerbate the gap between rich and poor".[23]

This categorical phrase reflects the idea I proposed earlier that though no technology is inherently good or bad, it is probable that the use of any technology will reflect the ideology of the dominant power structures permeating any society. One can add that it is probable that even a "just" society could have difficulties in distributing the benefits of new technology fairly. Many factors interact to form development and no government or other agent can control all components. It is most likely constructive that control is distributed between different actors, so that the state, NGOs, private enterprise, donors and others, need to cooperate to get things done, and in addition are unable to shape development independently.

Still, I would like to stress the gravity of the risk proposed by Mooney, and the challenges that our societies face in preventing the gap and the digital divide to widen nationally and internationally. There is a major risk that if the gap increases, that the possibilities for building a strong democracy are weakened. Initiatives to link up broader sectors to the Internet are generally very limited both because of the enormous resources required but also because of lack of educational skills. In Africa it is estimated that 70 percent of the total population of 600 million live in rural areas. These are often the poorest and the most vulnerable and at the same time they are very far away from the "new information technology highways".On the other hand, in Namibia, initiatives such as SchoolNet, NOLNet and various state initiatives in combination with the government's dedication to basic education for all, form an inspiring and promising platform for a different development. A development which will link people in rural and urban southern Africa to each other and to the rest of the connected world as well as facilitate participation in the democratic processes.

3.4 The Southern African Students' Union

The Southern African Students' Union, SASU, was founded in December 1993 as a non-racial, democratic and independent network of student unions in Southern Africa. SASU is an umbrella organisation of national student bodies in the Southern African region, basically confined to the 14 nations, which are members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The present affiliates of SASU are Mauritius, South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Seychelles. Its constitutional objectives are to influence national policies and governance, particularly in regard to education and students' rights, and to support the establishment and development of Student Representative Councils (SRCs) and national student organisations. The development of SASU coincided with the consolidation of the SADC initiative, which is viewed by SASU as a potential instrument for political lobbying in the region for students and the community as a whole. Six representatives from SASU are seconded to six of the seven technical committees established in terms of the SADC Education Protocol to ensure that the aspirations of the students are adhered to. They have voting rights on the committees, and aim to develop policy papers on which to base their strategy with regard to the Protocol.

SASU focus their activities on influencing regional policy education, gender equality, democracy, human rights and HIV/Aids. SASU's Head Office is situated in Windhoek, Namibia.

The Congress is the highest decision making body of the union. It is held every second year. The Executive body consists of the Executive Council (EC) and the Executive Secretariat (ES). The EC is comprised of one representative from each member country. The ES consists of the Secretary General, Secretary for Finance, Secretary for Projects, Secretary for Information and Publicity, Secretary for Gender and Human Rights and Secretary for Education.

A review on SASU activities was commissioned by Ibis[24] in 1999. During the review various SASU affiliates were interviewed and they emphasised the need for increased communication on a regional level: "The union's activities have allowed the affiliates to unite around common struggles, increased their ability to network with other members, exchange experiences, support each others struggles and deepen their knowledge and understanding of issues around gender, democracy, human rights and education policy...communication with affiliates and between affiliates remains an intractable problem. While communication with some affiliates is regular and adequate, for at least half of the affiliates this is minimal or none at all".[25] Consequently it was suggested that communication should be improved between the SASU office and member unions. These suggestions focused on the use of email and the Internet as well as a newsletter. The review gave recommendations for future activities. These included proposals for a strengthening of the communication skills within the organisation:

• The continuation of a printed newsletter
• Training on the optimum use of email and Internet and the setting up of a SASU web site.
• SASU will aim at electronic communication as the most efficient media to reach member unions and through the member unions SASU will also target the students.

Subsequently SASU decided to focus its communication strategy on web-based communication. A web page was set up and is presently under construction.[26]

This field study and paper is partly inspired by and a result of SASU's decision to use external input in the formulation of a new communication strategy, and particularly by their choice of Internet communication as preferred means of communication in the regional context.

12 Source: Dodge, Martin and Kitchin, Rob (2001) mapping cyberspace, London: Routledge, p 42002-04-15

13 ibid, pp 84 and 86, and Castells, Manuel (1996): The Rise of the Network Society. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

14 Bridges.org is an international non-profit organisation based in Cape Town, South Africa, combining ground-level ICT initiatives with ICT policy to help span the digital divide, Click here - 011109

15 Click here for Bridges.org website 011109

16 Parties that constitute examples of liberation movements turning into parties to occupy political power in a formally independent, sovereign post-colonial state. Examples here are, MPLA-Angola, FRELIMO-Moambique, ZANU/PF-Zimbabwe, ANC-South Africa and SWAPO-Namibia. Melber, Henning, (2001), 'Liberation and Democracy in Southern Africa' in Transistion in Southern Africa - Comparative Aspects, Discussion Paper 10, Uppsala: The Nordic Africa Institute.

17 Ibid

18 Media Institute of Southern Africa 011001

19 Sida, Semi-annual Report Namibia July-December 2001, Embassy of Sweden, Windhoek

20 UNDP, Human Development Report 2000

21 86.9% of all public expenditure on education is concentrated on pre-primary, primary and secondary level education. The figure for tertiary education is 13%, (1994-1997) Human Development report 2000

22 Sida, Semi-annual Report Namibia July-December 2001, Embassy of Sweden, Windhoek

23 Mooney, Pat Roy (1999) 'The ETC Century' Development Dialogue 1999:1-2. Pat Mooney works with civil society organisations on international development, trade issues related to agriculture and biodiversity. He has also received The Right Livelihood Award.

24 Danish development NGO

25 Vally, Salim (1999) Review of the Southern African Students' Union. Prepared for Ibis-Wus Denmark and SASU.

26 Click here for Southern Africa Students Union website