Abstract
The implementation of ICT in Africa pales in comparison with developed economies. Data of the use of landline phones, cellular phones and internet connectivity indicates that the most equipped African countries, of which there are only a handful, are worse off than the poorly connected countries in developed regions such as the European Union. Africa also lacks in other requirements for the use of ICT: literacy, infrastructure and access. It is concluded that poverty on one hand, and a top-down implementation of ICT on the other are the major contributing factors of the poor implementation of ICT in Africa. This impacts on the use of ICT to capture and distribute community memories. As the situation has not improved over the past decade despite good intentions, it seems that this problem will continue for several decades into the future, thus increasing the digital divide, resulting in the inability of the larger proportion of African communities to capture their memories.
