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The minister of ICT Postal and Courier Services Hon Tatenda Mavetera has been driving three ICT Policies which were officially launched by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Somabula, yesterday.
The same event under her ministry also saw the historical launching of the Dandemutande fibre over rail project in Somabula a 1500 km connectivity link covering three provinces, a highly powered ICT lab, Telecemedicine facility all deep down in the remote midlands area.
Mavetera rolls up her sleeve, hitting the ground running as the recently appointed ICT minister, driving the national ICT policy, discourse and infrastructure deployment, which are key instruments towards realisation of a digital society for nowadays digital native.
Zim president
Emmerson Mnangagwa and ICT minister Mavetera launching fibre cable in somabula
Addressing thousands in Somabula, the ICT minister unveiled the triple policy documents and stated:
“It gives me great pleasure to be in your presence this morning to witness the Joint-Launch of three ICT Policies, namely: Reviewed Zimbabwe National Policy for Information Communication Technology (ICT) covering the period 2022 to 2027, the Zimbabwe National Broadband Plan covering the period 2020 to 2030, and the Smart Zimbabwe 2030 Master Plan as well as the commissioning of the, Bandwidth and Cloud Services (BCS) Group Limited Zimbabwe Optic Fibre Network.
She stated that , the President Mnangagwa identified ICTs as being key to the attainment of Vision 2030. Under the Infrastructure, Utilities and Digital Economy Pillar of Zimbabwe’s First National Development Strategy (the NDS1), Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been assigned the role of key enablers of economic development, hence their entrenchment across all national development strategies for universal access to be attained by 2030 is indispensable.
The Ministry of ICT, Postal and Courier Services had to review its umbrella policy – the Zimbabwe National Policy for Information Communication Technology (ICT) of 2016 to 2020 – and has identified Policy Priority areas where improvement could be made to performance, sustainability and delivery of public value, such as: infrastructure and services; broadcasting services; postal and courier services; policy, legislation and regulation; digital skills; investment and funding; innovation and local production; inclusiveness; content and applications; emerging technologies; partnerships and collaborations; roll out of smart solutions; power supply; state enterprises and parastatals; national payments systems digital financial policy, among other areas.
“The Smart Zimbabwe 2030 Master Plan has been formulated as a strategy for the country to achieve a digital economy by 2030 as well as its Vision 2030. Suffice to mention that, a digital economy is that economic activity resulting from billions of everyday online connections among people, businesses, devices, data and processes.
The Smart Zimbabwe 2030 Master Plan will work through key specific sector-focused integrated Pillars which will act as Smart Solutions and these include: Smart Government; Smart Cities; Smart Agriculture; Smart Education; Smart Transport; Smart Health; Smart Tourism; and Smart Mining; among others. These Pillars are anchored on the following strong foundation or common Platforms: Policy, regulation and standards; Secure and shared infrastructure; Partnerships, skills, capacity building and content development; and Confidence and security of networks and services.” Said Mavetera
Operationalization of the Smart Zimbabwe 2030 Master Plan calls for a new paradigm shift where Government Ministries will be critical in the development of programmes and projects for specific Smart Solutions for the Sectors they superintend over.
The Master Plan presents models of Smart Agriculture, Smart Government, Smart Education and Smart Cities, to name but a few as examples of the key tenets in a Smart Solutions environment. Coordination of the adoption, development and deployment of ICT solutions and applications should be properly managed under the guidance of the Ministry of ICT, Postal and Courier Services to avoid duplication and ensure optimal utilization of financial and human resources.
“We are happy to inform you that, as part of our contribution to the ‘active projects’ of the Smart Africa Alliance, where Zimbabwe is the 26th Member, the country has been the Lead during the development of the associated AgriTech Blueprint for Africa, which was launched for the whole of Africa in 2021 by His Excellency, The President, Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa.”
Mavetera also noted that broadband, as a general-purpose technology, holds the future for the success of all nations as we move through the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
“It has, therefore, become necessary to ensure that high speed broadband is available, accessible, affordable and usable to all citizens. It is in this vein that the Ministry of ICT, Postal and Courier Services in partnership with the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) has formulated the Zimbabwe National Broadband Plan of 2020 to 2030 in consultation with all relevant stakeholders.” She noted.
The broadband plan envisions a highly connected Information Society, enabled by universal and reliable broadband networks, services and applications by 2030, in line with the country’s First National Development Strategy (NDS1) and the Zimbabwe National Policy for Information Communication Technology (ICT) of 2022 to 2027.
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