They are, however, residents queuing at the Orange Farm ICT Hub, the only place around for kilometres from where they can make photocopies, type their CVs or learn how to use a PC.

On top of an unemployment rate hovering above 60 percent, Orange Farm is an unusually isolated community. Not only is it off-the-beaten track geographically but its telecommunications connectivity is also sparse, making Internet access almost non-existent. Formal businesses are rare, forcing community members to travel outside for everything from stationery to job and training opportunities.

“The big problem in Orange Farm is that all the revenue goes out because people have to go into town for almost everything,” says Douglas Cohen, project consultant of the ICT sector support programme in the Economic Development Unit of the City of Johannesburg.