An invention by five WSU students from the Department of Information Technology Systems in the Komani Campus came in second place at the recent East London Development Zone ICT Hackathon Competition.
The ICT Hackathon is an initiative by the ELIDZ and other stakeholders which seeks to unearth effective ICT solutions by young people that can enhance skills and economic development in the Eastern Cape.
Asekona Xanywa, Kudzaishe Matope, Regomoditswe Mkhabela, Carol Ngomane and Olwethu Manqola, who are all students in WSU’s Diploma ICT (Application Development), developed an Android application in response to the Komani area’s service delivery woes.
The quintet’s Application, which scooped a R20 000 cash prize, is a 4IR solution that would facilitate effective and rapid communication between residents and the municipality.
Service-delivery related queries would be directed, through the application, to the municipal administrator, who would in turn redirect them to the responsible department.
“We live in Komani, so we know how the situation is when it comes to the electricity and water. Residents struggle when they have to report a fault or breakages in the services. They have to call the municipality to place a query, and sometimes the call traffic will be a problem, or the phones will not be answered. So, we looked at the situation then we thought how about we design an application that is going to help the residents,” said final year student, Asekona Xanywa.
Though the application mainly targets the residents, it would also immensely assist the municipality to know in time about specific service delivery issues in specific areas of the region.
With the stamp of viability for their prototype the group will go on to explore other opportunities for its full development.
The WSU Team competed against other EC based tertiary institutions, including Nelson Mandela University, Rhodes University, and first prize winners, Fort Hare University.
HoD and lecturer in the ITS department, Mr. Munienge Mbodila, who coached the WSU Team alongside other mentors said that this win was a testament of how strong the programme and teaching are in the institution.
“To me this shows that we are not as small as we may think. And though our students come from disadvantaged backgrounds, they can bring great ideas of value. They can stand on their own in the job market and compete against students from other institutions in the province and nationally,” said Mbodila.
Mbodila also asserted that their department was looking at hosting internal competitions so that more students within the university got exposure to such learning platforms and perfect their skills internally first.
By Yanga Ziwele
