South Africa
The fifth session of the African Internet Resilience webinar series took place on 30 July. The focus of the session was to foster a deeper understanding of complementary networks and address the need for internet services in rural and underserved areas across the continent.
As a part of the ITU's pandemic response, the platform REG4COVID was launched, providing a space for regulators and civil society to share their own initiatives. APC asked their community network partners to contribute to the platform, given the general absence of civil society input.
The initiative is being implemented by APC in partnership with Rhizomatica and aims to develop the models, capacities and sustainability of community networks.
This is the fifth in a series of interviews that highlight the journey, struggles and achievements of women doing work in community networks. We are documenting their experiences with the intention to inspire more women to get involved in this field.
APC, together with Media Monitoring Africa and the Right To Know campaign, are hosting internships in South Africa for work focusing on internet-related policy and governance, privacy, and communications.
With its appearance at the Committee, South Africa has recognised the essential role of access to the internet as an enabler of rights. It is critical for the government to continue to engage with civil society and other stakeholders to advance rights-based approaches to internet access.
“There is so much potential in rural South Africa, and with a little bit of capacity building, a lot of things could happen around affordable internet access,” said Carlos Rey-Moreno of APC's Local Access Networks project at the end of a workshop with the Technology Innovation Agency.
South Africa risks continued failures to fulfil its human rights obligations to people if the government’s austerity policy is maintained, civil society organisations have warned at the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
What are the most relevant changes in the telecommunications landscape and their implications for achieving universal, affordable access to communication in Africa? This was the focus of a workshop in Durban organised by APC and the Communications Regulators’ Association of Southern Africa.
The Third Summit on Community Networks in Africa took place on 2-7 September 2018 in Eastern Cape, South Africa, with the aim of promoting the creation and growth of community networks on the continent.

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