President Thabo Mbeki introduced the first Nepad eSchool in South Africa in Bushbuckridge in mid-April. The computer lab and audio-visual centres at Maripe Secondary School are the first of six such establishments in South Africa to be installed. This forms part of the Nepad eSchools demo project, which includes 18 African countries.

The Nepad eSchools initiative was launched in March 2003 by the Nepad eAfrica Commission, which plans to outfit all of Africa's estimated 600 000 schools with similar facilities by 2013.