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Rutendo Nyeve, Features Correspondent
WITH the entire world becoming more interconnected as a result of continued improvements in the area of information communication technology, media theorists like Marshall McLuhan have coined the term global village to try and explain that the world has become much more compressed and closer to each other than before – just like a village.
The theory has become accepted as it implies that communication has become cheaper, faster and more effective. This however, is not the case with some Umzingwane and Matobo villagers in the Matabeleland South province who have lost hope of being part of this interesting phenomenon as there are serious mobile network challenges. These network challenges have seen villagers having to climb mountains or establish communication centres in trees or other areas where there is at least a bar of network.
Mobile phones have been a substitute for fixed lines in many developing countries. They help drive economic growth, fostering business development and wider market access. They provide a more reliable alternative to road transport and postal systems in remote and underserved areas like Umzingwane and Matopo. As technology advances, mobile phones have not only enabled users to make voice calls but instead, they have offered easy access to a stunning array of innovative applications like the popular WhatsApp messenger.
In developing countries, they are creating opportunities for users to access market information, monitor health care, transfer money and promote literacy. Zimbabwe has adopted this technological development through using mobile networks to disseminate key health information like raising awareness as seen by the role mobile networks and social media is playing in fighting Covid-19.
Mobile money transfers have also played a key role in facilitating money transfers from one point to the other.
E-learning has also been adopted as a pivotal measure in enhancing learning in schools in the face of Covid-19.
Sunday News visited the areas recently and observed first hand these network challenges. Areas that include but not limited to Kumbudzi, Bezha, Longfield, Dula, Sigiti and Silobi amongst others have fallen victim to the network challenges.
Headman Ndlovu of Silobi area in Ward 10 Umzingwane district lamented how network problems have inconvenienced their society with calls for the relevant authorities and service providers to hear their outcry.
“We need a booster in this area. We have spoken about it for a long time but nothing has been done. Most of us in this community are old and if we wish to communicate with our children in the urban areas, we have to walk to the network spots which are mostly mountains. As you can see that age has taken the better of me, it is very difficult to be climbing mountains and it strains us as we are no longer fit and healthy to be doing that. We lose out on vital issues, fail to attend critical developmental meetings due to communication barriers. May the relevant authorities kindly remember us,” lamented Headman Ndlovu.
At Dula in Ward 9, a tree has been converted into a communication centre. This has been done through nailing cellphone holders in the form of plastic bottles on the tree trunk. This is the only way the villagers can keep their mobiles online and reachable. A few metres away there is a Watsapp spot just beside the veterinary houses where those privileged enough to have smart phones converge to chat with their loved ones through the WhatsApp platform. A villager who identified herself as Lissah Moyo narrated the villagers’ modus operandi to access network.
“These are Sibandenhle shops where we have our communication centre at our famous Amarula tree. The network for WhatsApp is here next to the veterinary houses. There is no network in most areas and in order to access network you have to go up the mountain and certain areas like these. You have to walk a distance just to communicate with other people. During the rainy season people do not have time to move up and down for network as they will be busy in the fields. This results in us losing out on vital information from our relatives in urban areas like funerals and sicknesses within families,” said Lissah.
Senator for Matobo, Insiza and Umzingwane constituencies Cde Themba Mathuthu also weighed in saying government should act swiftly as it was the President’s vision not to live anyone behind in development of the digital economy underpinned by ICT infrastructure development.
“The problem that we have is that in areas like Silobini and Dula people do not have access to radio, TV and mobile networks. In order to access the network, they end up climbing mountains. As we all know that the President’s desire is not to live anyone behind, people in such areas are being left behind be it current affairs or other vital issue. Think of our school going children as well who also want to benefit from E-learning but can’t do that because of network challenges. That is why probably children in the urban areas perform better than those in the rural areas. It’s due to the exposure to such technology. As such we lobby the government to take this as a matter of urgency,” said Senator Mathuthu.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services Cde Dingumuzi Phuti said they were cognisant of the challenges faced by the villagers and government was promoting the infrastructure sharing model by redeploying base stations to underserved and unserved areas like Umzingwane and Matobo.
“We are aware of connectivity challenges in Umzingwane district and Matobo raised by the Hon House of Assembly member Cde Levi Mayihlome to the Ministry of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services. While network operators had the challenge of raising foreign currency to acquire equipment for construction of base stations, government is now going to promote the infrastructure sharing model by redeploying base stations to underserved and unserved areas so as to cover such places as Umzingwane.
The Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, Potraz, will continue to construct shared base stations across the country through Universal Service Fund. The underserved area of Umzingwane is in our radar and something will be done soon, not only for communication but to also aide the processes of learning as online teaching and researches have become a modern learning technique,” said Hon Phuti. -@nyeve14
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