Zimbabwe Gvt Officially Commissions National Data Centre

The  Zimbabwe  Government through the  ministry  of ICT Postal  and courier service in conjuction  with the  Office  Of the President and  cabinet  (OPC)  today officially commissioned the  national data center at the Mukwati government complex in Harare

At a very  high level event commissioned  by the  President of  Zimbabwe, HE  Emmerson Mnangagwa and  both his  deputies VP Chiwenga and VP Kembo Mohadi and  top  government  officials, the move  signified the  importance of the data  center  to government.

The  data centre  has  been on the  cards  for a long time as government seeks to digitalize  its operations and  data  storage  which predominantly  have  been  manual or hard  copies back up system for decades.

 

The  move  is highly anticipated  to accelerate the  digitization  of government processes and use the servers  for both  data processing and  storage while skeptics  and activists  have  already  stated that the  centre  will be  used to monitor, trach  and snoop into personal data, especially after  government  has  dumped  already  existing  data  centres at the  University of  Zimbabwe and TelOne , which are all state  controlled.

However the  the  center is expected to  deliver  much  good than  harm  to revolutionize the  digital sphere for state  arms  and state  controlled  enterprises.

Addressing  delegates  during the  official commissioning,  the Minister of ICT Postal and Courier Services, Dr Jenfan Muswere said the national data centre will also support government’s aspirations in the National Development Strategy One leading up to Vision2030.

 

“We are optimistic that with what we have seen then we can go further in terms of ensuring transparency and accountability.”

 

the  data centre is aimed  to  create a facility for the centralisation of Govt ICT’s operations and equipment with a view to achieving cost savings, greater coordination and better efficiency to facilitate the coordinated modernisation of Govt business

The national data centre is set to anchor e-government systems for the attainment of national development strategies

In a presentation, at the commissioning ceremony the Permanent Secretary for e-Government in the office of the President and Cabinet, Brigadier General Charles Wekwete described the National Data Centre as a One Stop Shop for storing all information.

“It is all about allowing cloud computing to provide the virtual services to all ministries and departments rather than each having premise physical areas.