IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The Government is losing millions of dollars in uncollected revenue emanating from poor systems integration of information in the formal and informal sectors.

As a result, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority was challenged to leverage global ICT trends to enhance modernisation of their tax administration using various testimonials from South Africa, Sweden and Botswana as specimen of how this can be implemented.

Zimbabwe is pushing for additional spectrum to support growth for its broadcast and information communication technology (ICT) industry, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information Communication Technology and Cyber Security, Engineer Sam Kundishora has said.

Additional spectrum provides Zimbabwe and Africa with business opportunities and employment, Engineer Kundishora told The Herald Business on the side-lines of the ongoing four-day second meetings of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) World Radio Conference (WRC) 19 preparatory working groups.

The Ministry of Information Communication Technology, Courier and Postal Services has raised security concerns over the use of a sole software supplier to implement the e-Government programmes in light of recent reports that the company, Twenty Third Century Systems, was recently acquired by a foreign-owned firm.

Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed EOH recently announced it would buy between 49 percent and 80 percent of Twenty Third Century Systems and its subsidiaries for an undisclosed amount.

“We need to effectively change our schools curriculum so that we keep what is good and transform what is not, so that we keep abreast with international advancements,” Coltart told NewsDay yesterday.

The Government is revisiting the rollout of the national digital transmission network to ensure that citizens have access to timeous and appropriate information as part of efforts to stave off hostile foreign propaganda.

Last year in April, the country switched over from the analogue signal to digital terrestrial television (DTT) under the US$125 million Zimbabwe Digital Broadcasting Migration project.

Government will soon launch a web portal which will be the internet based entry point to all Ministries as the state moves towards electronic governance, an official said on Tuesday. Speaking at the Zim-Asset Stakeholders Communication Support Workshop, Office of the President and Cabinet head of public affairs and knowledge management, Mary Mubi said the website was one of the platforms to be used to enhance service delivery through information dissemination.

“Very soon we will be launching a Government web portal which will be the entry point to government Ministries which we hope will be regularly updated so that it gives you information on key decisions so that as citizens you can also send feedback,” she said.

Government is set to open more communication centres across the country’s 52 districts as it moves to promote technological advancement for economic growth in rural communities. This dovetails into President Mugabe’s call to promote Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a tool to foster socio-economic development. This will also assist rural communities to access e-government services and information.

Addressing delegates at the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day celebrations in Muzarabani on Wednesday, Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services Cde Supa Mandiwanzira said more communication centres would be launched countrywide.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said the information communication technology (ICT) sector must be viewed as an economic enabler towards the growth of the gross domestic product.

Officially launching the Zimbabwe National Policy for ICT and the Zimbabwe Innovation drive in Harare yesterday, Mnangagwa said all sectors in the economy should be moving towards e-platforms.

Developed societies have taken advantage of advances in ITCs by gaining broad access to modern digital networks and significant economic as well as social spin-offs for their communication and business sectors.

But their counterparts in developing countries including Zimbabwe are yet to achieve satisfactory levels of connectivity.

"In terms of the ICT document, we are in the process of concluding it. The draft document is being circulated to various Government departments," he said.

The setting up and deployment of information communication technology infrastructure is critical to the attainment of President Mnangagwa's vision of an upper middle income economy by 2030.

This was said here yesterday by Information Communication Technology and Courier Services Minister Kazembe Kazembe during the official commissioning of the US$23,6 million National Backbone Fibre Link project that connects Zimbabwe with the rest of the world through South Africa.

An engineering scholar in Asia Tahir Hameed, in a journal on Information Communication Technology, reiterates that ICTs can be an enabler to development.

“Hargittai and other studies have shown that the rate of Information Technology diffusion is correlated to the general level of socio-economic development. A most recent finding is that ICTs play a vital role in advancing economic growth and reducing poverty. A survey of firms carried out in 56 developing countries finds that firms that use ICTs grow faster, invest more, and are more productive and profitable than those that do not.

The Minister of Information Communication Technology and Courier Services Jenfan Muswere has urged the country’s postal and communication service provider, ZIMPOST, to adopt electronic ways of service provision to enhance business.

Muswere made the remarks during a Zimpost Strategic Planning Workshop on Wednesday.

“My Ministry wants Zimpost to adopt the e-Post concept in totality and have it dominate its day to day delivery of products and services in Zimbabwe.”

Government and various stakeholders will on March 21 officially launch the process of implementing the National Information Communication Technology (ICT) policy, which was crafted in 2015, an official has said.

Zimbabwe first launched its National ICT Policy Framework in 2007, but the document was overtaken by developments in the fast-growing sector.

"We are presently reviewing the old ICT policy of 2005 to make it adapt to current technological developments in the sector," he said.

Eng Kundishora said the ministry would soon facilitate some consultative meetings with relevant stakeholders to come up with input for the proposed new national ICT policy frame- work.

The government is in the process of crafting a revised information and communication technology policy framework. Zimbabwe first launched its national ICT Policy Framework in 2007, but the document was overtaken by developments in the fast-growing sector.

Government is in the process of re-configuring, recreating and modernise public administration systems using information communication technology (ICT).

Already 11 applications under the e-government initiative have gone live in a bid to improve service delivery

In a speech read on his behalf at the ongoing African Tax Administration Forum's High Level Conference on ICT here in Victoria Falls, Dr Misheck Sibanda said the applications had gone live for all projects that are riding on the already existing Public Finance Management System hardware infrastructure and Enterprise Resources Planning ERP licences.

According to ICT minister Nelson Chamisa, the new policy will provide for, among other things, the establishment of a national information and communication technology authority, and a national information and communication technology converged regulator and e-government.

The Department of Immigration has implored Parliament to push for the resuscitation of its computerised citizen management system which has been down since December 2019.

The system is used to capture the movement of travellers, screen those with outstanding security issues and those with travel bans.

"Among other achievements, the department has computerised most of its border stations and airports as a way of enhancing efficient service delivery.