Rural areas in South Africa face significant digital divide challenges, hindered by limited access to technology infrastructure and inadequate training. A mixed-methods approach combining quantitative surveys with qualitative interviews was employed to gather data from rural communities in South Africa. Rural households displayed a preference for locally developed, user-friendly digital devices (e.g., tablets) over imported models. The adoption rate of these devices exceeded 50% among surveyed participants. The study underscores the importance of culturally sensitive and technologically adapted solutions in addressing rural digital inclusion challenges. Policy makers should prioritise community-driven technology development initiatives to ensure sustainable and effective digital services delivery. digital divide, rural South Africa, technological adaptation, socioeconomic strategies Model estimation used $\hat{\theta}=argmin_{\theta}\sum_i\ell(y_i,f_\theta(x_i))+\lambda\lVert\theta\rVert_2^2$, with performance evaluated using out-of-sample error.