"The move is about government transforming and all about e-government bringing public services to citizens, but the uptake is slow," says Ashley de Klerk, public sector director at Microsoft South Africa (SA). Like many others, Zolisa Masiza, councillor at Icasa, asks how the implementation of digital cities can be justified if government has not yet sorted out basic services, such as sanitation, running water and housing, for all citizens of the country?

Linked with this are the questions: Who will really benefit from this? Will it be possible to implement this dream if the most basic needs of citizens have not been met? And who will be responsible for making it happen? - thus making the debate a difficult one.

Says country manager at 3Com, Johnathene Beyers-Clements: "The answer lies in public private partnerships (PPP) and a parallel strategy, whereby both government and the private sector look at resolving the issues of basic services simultaneously with establishing digital cities." She believes that public domain interest groups must lobby for the proliferation of community services, and notes that the private sector must drive this.

Faux pas

Beyers-Clements also adds that it would be a 'faux pas' if we do not exploit the idea of digital cities now, and says that, if attention is not given to this issue, it will again put SA far behind the rest of the world. "Following a linear approach would be a huge mistake. Digital cities would be an important catalyst to a total solution," she says.