AFRICANEWS
LesothoLocal@global.comTechnologyBy Thabo Motlamelle
In the near past, the post office and telecommunications ruled the roost of human communication but to a large extend now, more messages are finding their way to the intended consumers via the net than other forms of communicating. But yet a relatively newer innovation has made the Internet even more accessible to the enlightened who would otherwise not afford the expense of internet connection and all the accessories associated with being on the net. It is called the internet café shop. In Maseru, capital city of Lesotho, only one such place exists where the on-line addicts can converge to receive and send messages, do research and download information, transfer and input data. Yet in Ghana, according to the editor of Mopheme newspaper, Lawrence Keketso, internet shops exist in the villages. He says old ladies can be heard sending their kids to "go and dot com your uncle in the United States at the local shop." People most commonly seen utilising the facilities provided there by the Lesotho Office Equipment (lesoff) café are expatriates on short visits and Africans from further north of the continent who are in more permanent placings within the country according to the lesoff director, Billy Moore. He says locals account for only 15 - 20 percent of the café's clientele. The majority of the expats would be people not likely to want a post box or a phone line. They would rather use someone else's mailing box, the public telecommunications facilities or hire a cellular phone for the period of their stay. They usually come into the café to utilise international email facilities such as Hotmail, CNN, Yahoo, Bigfoot, etc. Others come in to browse the Internet or do some research while the more local clientele tend to use the facilities for writing letters, documents and do other activities one can do on a computer, with internet or not. Locals may be seen wandering in to check up on the international scene and send a few notes to friends or colleagues abroad like Miss Mamello Phomane who was recently seen punching away on the keyboard linking up with friends and information. Miss Phomane, a secondary school teacher at Piting, 20 kilometres north of Maseru, said she used the café at every opportunity she found herself in Maseru. She confessed to being an E-mail fan and always sent messages and letters to friends in places such as Scotland, the US and even locals who have access to E-mail. She said she found it and the Internet more economic, efficient and user-friendly. "When you consider the price of sending a letter by post and the time it takes for the letter to reach its intended receipient, the R10-00 I pay to send over six letters every time I am on e.mail works out a lot cheaper. Even if I sent one letter to someone in Maseru, remember time is money so I would still have done it cheaper as I get my responses quicker." She believed the Internet performed numerous functions done by more traditional institutions in the past like the post office, the phone company and the library. "Now you can send messages and read up on subjects you need more enlightenment all at the same time and place." She however believed the Internet could not take over all of the functions of the post office or the phone company as: "You cannot send a letter with your real signature over E-mail or send large packages. Perhaps in future when one may be able to speak over the net with the intended receiver, the Internet may take over the phone. But now, it still depends on the phone as for messages to be sent." Miss Phomane still owns a mail box to send and receive mail and larger packages but said she did most of her communication on the internet. She also preffered reading up at the internet shop than the library as the information on the net was more recent. This however did not worry the librarian of the Lesotho National Library service in Maseru Nthabiseng Ramokotjo. She felt that the introduction of the Internet was an improvement of the work of the library. She felt libraries ought to have computers connected to the Internet and operate like an Internet café since, as a source of information, the Internet was more like a book even though it had other properties which she regarded as useful for a librarian's work. Nthabiseng felt with an Internet connection she would be able to deal directly with book publishers, see what new materials they have, what she could buy for her library and she could order right there on the net. She would also be able participate in discussion groups on librarian work on the Internet and link up to important international conferences on librarianship. No, the net could not be viewed as a rival of the library but an enhancer of its work. Traditional library services would not be made redundant by the Internet as even those libraries which have computerised their cataloguing systems still depend on the old card system as backup for the high-tech system dependant on the vagaries of electricity companies. The lesoff café provides other services such as printing and E-mail post boxes for customers. The charges to maintain a box where one can receive e.mails costs R10-00 per month and one has to pay the same amount to be on the Internet for 30 minutes. To date the café has opened 100 e.mail boxes for local users but Moore says the café shop is not a profitable business concern. "Everywhere in the world where there are Internet cafés, they do not make money. The only reason I keep it is to serve existing users and as a catch for new users." The café has five computers and a printer. All computers have games which the younger user may while away time on weekends and learn more about computer usage while the parent may be hammering out more serious messages on another console. The lesoff also provides Internet connection facilities for company users and individuals more akin to own computers and need internet connection. This is referred to as service provision and its domain name for users in Maseru is @lesoff.co.za which suggests a connection with South Africa. The lesoff has 2 500 such internet customers connected, which suggests that more and more people age getting on-line in Lesotho as companies usually allow more than one of their staff to have access to the Internet and e.mail. There are now three service providers in Lesotho with the Square One computer company now offering service provision and the Thebe provider of the National University of Lesotho providing only to staff members and students of the university. The Internet and E-mail have also developed as a very useful tool for business according to Peter Mokheseng of Precious Garments, a manufacturer of textiles at the Maseru Industrial area. Moore and Mokheseng agree that it improves efficiency at the workplace. Mokheseng says its speedy communication leads to faster confirmation of information and requests with their agents in Taiwan and customers in the United States. He said they supplied 600 shops in New York and with the Internet they could take stock of those shops within minutes and know their requirements. "It is a tool with which we can become highly competitive against such markets as China and the Caribbean. We are now able to assess what fashions are in vogue in the US within minutes and change with the times." He said the quality of the communication made it easier for them to send and receive instructions. "We can now clearly see how many inches/centimetres we are to place while stitching garments, a huge problem in the day of the fax because some pages used to appear smudged and we could not clearly see what had been written." He said they could now negotiate price and modes of transport with their customers and communicate numbers of bills of lading quicker and more accurately. He saw an advantage in being able to assess how the "Asian Tigers", were performing. "Those countries have 2.4 billion people among themselves which makes them a huge market. We are now able to compete with them for world markets because we can read up on them on the net so we are able to beat them with price, quality products, design and delivery, which is most important." But then, not everyone has realised the need for the internet or the E-mail. 'Mathuso Makhabane, a shopkeeper in Qoaling, a suburb of Maseru, says she does not know about the Internet and is not as yet interested. Even after its benefits were outlined to her she still considered it not useful in her line of work. "I buy all my stock for a wholesale retailer nearby and I am able to just drive over and get what I need for my customers." She felt she communicated well enough using the telephone and the post office and did not see the need to get internet connection. "Who would I be writing e.mails to? I don't know anyone abroad and even if I did, I would still write to them or phone them." She believed the initial investment required for Internet connection was too high. "I cannot afford a computer, let alone all those expensive things you need to get it connected on the internet." If computer companies would make Internet connection and the sale of computers and their accessories cheaper or affordable through such schemes as hire purchase used by the furniture companies, she would probably then think of getting one for herself.
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