Rural communities should be part of digital revolution: Minister

Business Editor
BRIDGING the digital divide between rural and urban citizens is critical in ensuring that marginalised communities are part of the e-commerce drive. This requires Government and stakeholder collaboration towards spearheading development of information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure across the country.

ICT and Cyber Security Minister, Supa Mandiwanzira, said this on Monday in a speech read on his behalf by ministry secretary, Engineer Sam Kundishona, during the launch of the Maitengwe new shared base service station in Bulilima District.

“The importance of access to information communication technologies in this modern era cannot be overemphasised. Almost everything, with the advent of the Internet, is almost dependent on the use of ICTs.

“The Internet of things and the Internet of everything are other very interesting developments to be supported by ICT infrastructure,” said Min Mandiwanzira.

“ICTs have indeed become the bedrock of any nation’s developmental trajectory and Zimbabwe cannot be left behind in that regard.”

Against this background, the minister said Government, working closely with its agencies in the ICT sector and stakeholders have made a commitment to spearhead the development of ICT infrastructure in order to ensure that every part of Zimbabwe has telecommunications network coverage.

“It is the desire of the Government,” he added, “to ensure that the entire unconnected are connected, all the unbanked are banked through bridging the divide between rural and urban dwellers,” Min Mandiwanzira said.

The Maitengwe community is situated in Bulilima West along the border zone with Botswana. Due to lack of network coverage the area had been virtually cut off from the rest of the country and had over the years relied on Botswana network service providers for mobile voice and data services. The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) built the new shared base station using funding from the Universal Services Fund (USF).

The major network providers Econet, NetOne and Telecel have already set up active connectivity and villagers are now enjoying mobile service. The project is estimated to have cost half a million dollars. Some of the key benefits of having access to ICTs include but are not limited to electronic commerce hence the essence of financial inclusion as most financial transactions are of late conducted on digital platforms. There is also e-government, which supports setting up of online Government offices for provision of key services to the population. The other key aspect is e-learning, which facilitates inclusion of a digital learning curriculum to enhance the quality of education and improve the general standards of living of people in a country.

Meanwhile, during the event Potraz donated 10 laptop computers each to four schools in Bulilima District. These are Mangubo, Malalume, Gwambe and Mzuwanyana schools.