By Jonathan Mbiriyamveka
Under a cloud of dust and sun kisses, scores of residents mostly women in Mutare on Thursday thronged roadshows held by Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe.
Some were entertained by the music while others were happy get caps, T-shirts but most importantly it was the infotainment by POTRAZ which captured the imagination of residents.
For instance, not many people are aware that it is against the law to hack your spouse’s phone or even go through someone’s phone or that someone can steal your identity.
In light of this, POTRAZ saw it fit to go across Zimbabwe to raise awareness on how the Cyber and Data Protection Act empowers citizens on how to navigate the digital space in a safe manner.
Other objectives were to explain the overarching principles of data protection that are enshrined in the Cyber and Data Protection act and also to outline the rights of data subjects under the Act. These include right to be informed, rights to consent, right to withdraw consent, right to access, right to correction and right to deletion among others.
Added to this, a study by POTRAZ revealed that males were twice as likely to be aware of the Cyber and Data Protections Act than females.
Only 18 percent of women vis-à-vis 36 percent of men were aware of the existence of the Cyber and Data Protection Act (Chapter12:07).
For those unaware there is 64 percent of males and 82 percent females according to the study.
This implies that for any campaign to be inclusive, deliberate efforts should be made to increase participation by women.
As expected in rural-urban disparity awareness, 18 percent of rural dwellers are aware while the majority of 82 percent are unaware. In urban areas, 32 percent are aware while 68 percent are unaware.
The figures are worrisome because Zimbabweans need to know of their rights within the act for them not to be data donors.
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