Cape Gateway, Presentation of results, Prepared for Knowledge Economy and E-government, 16 April

Background and research objectives Knowledge Economy & E-Government (KEEG) are customer centric and aim to understand the perceptions, wants and needs of customers to the Western Cape Provincial Government In line with this view the KEEG who were up at the Klein Karoo National Kunstefees (KKNK) in Oudtshoorn representing the Western Cape Provincial Government took this as an opportunity to get feedback from customers at the festival A shorter, simpler version of the study was conducted last year, and was previously run by Clients own staff The focus of the study was to gain measures on knowledge about Western Cape Provincial Government services and information available on services Usage experiences What information they would like to have access to What channels to access information The study was conducted at the KKNK and was not a true representative survey that necessary reflects the entire provinces viewpoint but provides Client with useful insight and adds value with regards to their Cape Gateway Project BackgroundObjectives

Research approach In-person interviewing – although respondents had the opportunity to fill in the survey themselves, some face-to-face interviews were conducted where language was a problem, as all questionnaires were in English Results are definitive Data was captured by Research Surveys Data Processing unit The Knowledge Economy and E-Government conducted the interviews The questionnaire was designed in conjunction with Client, Quantitative Research Attendees to the KKNK and locals from Oudtshoorn who walked past the Knowledge Economy and E-Government stand which was part of an exhibition by the Western Cape Provincial Government, and agreed to participate All respondents were from the Western Cape A mix of rural and metropolitan respondents were interviewed Some of the local Oudtshoorn residents were of a lower economic status than the average visitor to the festival A total sample of 270 completed interviews was conducted Sample

Sample profile

An even spread of ages and gender were interviewed % 45% 55% Gender Age

The majority were Afrikaans and half the sample had no tertiary education % 11% 80% 9% Language Education

The majority of the Black and Coloured people were local residents % 84% of the total Black and Coloured people were local residents and of a lower economic status 42% 47% 11% 79% of the sample were from Western Cape Rural areas Race Area

The sample in summary Equal spread of ages Equal gender split Most were not educated beyond high school The majority of the Black and Coloured people were local residents Just under half the sample were white Mostly Afrikaans-speaking citizens from the Western Cape Rural areas

Knowledge and usage of Government information

Telecommunication, IT and Internet usage % Communication channels % Computer and Internet access High claims to Internet access with 32% having access via a public place, such as a library. Although many have access to local libraries and community centers, it is not clear whether they actually access the Internet at these places. Telephone, Internet and cell phone usage skews towards metropolitan and Eden residents Skews towards Central Karoo local residents

26% 50% 9% Public vs Private Internet access only 24% 50% have Internet access at home or at work Although 76% claim to have Internet access only 50% have their own Internet access People who access the Internet at a public place are likely to access less frequently and as a result are very unlikely to be interested in products, services or information provided via the Internet PRIVATE ACCESS SKEWS TO: White City of Cape Town Degree completed Own a cell phone LIBRARY ACCESS SKEWS TO: Coloured Central Karoo years High School complete

24% claim to be aware of what Government information is available to the public % Spontaneous awareness of Information that is available from the Provincial Government Only mentions by more than 5% are shown here Coloureds tended to be more aware of information about services And the information that they are aware of includes

39% claim to know about Western Cape Government initiatives providing information about services % And many of these claimed to be aware of Cape Gateway. However, most only became aware of Cape Gateway at the festival

Mostly traditional mediums were preferred for being informed about Government initiatives % Of those who have access to the Internet privately, 23% chose the Internet as their channel of preference, compared to only 1% who have access to the Internet via a public place - Internet had limited appeal Of those who have access to the Internet privately, 36% chose as their channel of preference, compared to only 6% who have access to the Internet via a public place

19% have accessed Government information before % Type of information that has been accessed includes

However, the skew towards tourism could be as a result of people being on holiday in a holiday mood Of all Government information available, tourism was the most popular to access % Skews strongly towards the visitors to the festival, rather than the local people

Telephone is the preferred channel for communicating with Government % 66% of the local people from the central Karoo chose the telephone Only 38% of private Internet users chose the telephone 50% of private Internet users preferred this channel Compared to only 13% of public Internet users 47% of people from the Boland, City of Cape Town, Overberg and West Coast favoured the Internet 52% from the City of Cape Town were interested However, only 30% of people from the Boland, Overberg and West Coast had interest in a walk-in- centre Although the telephone is the channel with the broadest appeal, different people are attracted to different channels. Private Internet users and people living far from the city prefer the Internet. The poorer more middle class people from the Central Karoo prefer the telephone and some of the people living in the City would like to use a walk–in-centre. Therefore a multi-channel strategy is the most appropriate.

Approximately half would expect a call centre to operate during normal business hours and half expect it to operate for longer hours %

Importance of having access to and likelihood of accessing Government information % Importance of having access % Likelihood of accessing The average score for importance is 8.3 out of 10 Skews towards Central Karoo local residents and people who have accessed Government information before Coloureds and Blacks placed more value on the importance of having access to Government information than Whites The average score for likelihood of accessing is 7.8 out of 10 Most people feel it is important to have access to Government information; more than half feel they are likely to access it

Experience with Government services Used Government service before? Satisfaction with service? Average = 6.3/10 Reason for service being unsatisfactory No: 1/2/3/4 out of 10 18% Dont answer phone (n=2) Bad communication skills by staff (n=3) Yes 24% Yes: 8/9/10 out of 10 26% No 76% (n=12) Caution: Small base (n=66)(n=270) Report back or follow-up is slow (n=4) Service is slow (n=3) Service is poor (n=3) Very few people have had any experience with the Western Cape Provincial Government and for most of those that have, it has not been very satisfactory

The findings in summary Only a quarter claim to be aware of Government information that is available to the public 19% have accessed Government information before Different groups of people have different preferences for channels to access Government information – therefore a multi-channel strategy is most appropriate 76% claim to have access to the Internet But only 50% have access at home or at work (private access). These people have some interest in using the Internet to gain Government information The other 26% have access through a public venue (not from home or work). These people have very little interest in using the Internet to gain Government information The Internet is more effective as a medium for people to search for information than as a medium to inform people of initiatives Most felt it is important to have access to Government information and more than half felt they were likely to access it in the future at some stage A quarter have dealt with Provincial Government previously and felt the service was below average satisfaction, with a score of 6.3 out of 10 on average Low usage and awareness of Government Services

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