Staff Writer
Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services Minister Dr Tatenda Mavetera Thursday launched ICT policies in Samabhula.
The three ICT policies are Reviewed Zimbabwe National Policy for Information Communication Technology (ICT) covering the period 2022 to 2027, the Zimbabwe National Broadband Plan covering the period 2020 to 2030, and the Smart Zimbabwe 2030 Master Plan as well as the commissioning of the, Bandwidth and Cloud Services (BCS) Group Limited Zimbabwe Optic Fibre Network.
Speaking at the launch, Dr Mavetera said President Mnangagwa identified ICTs as being key to the attainment of Vision 2030.
“Under the Infrastructure, Utilities and Digital Economy Pillar of Zimbabwe’s First National Development Strategy (the NDS1), Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been assigned the role of key enablers of economic development, hence their entrenchment across all national development strategies for universal access to be attained by 2030 is indispensable,” Dr Mavetera said.
The Ministry of ICT, Postal and Courier Services has had to review its umbrella policy – the Zimbabwe National Policy for Information Communication Technology (ICT) of 2016 to 2020 – and has identified Policy Priority Areas where improvement could be made to performance, sustainability and delivery of public value, such as: infrastructure and services; broadcasting services; postal and courier services; policy, legislation and regulation; digital skills; investment and funding; innovation and local production; inclusiveness; content and applications; emerging technologies; partnerships and collaborations; roll out of smart solutions; power supply; state enterprises and parastatals; national payments systems digital financial policy, among other areas.
“The Smart Zimbabwe 2030 Master Plan has been formulated as a strategy for the country to achieve a digital economy by 2030 as well as its Vision 2030. Suffice to mention that, a digital economy is that economic activity resulting from billions of everyday online connections among people, businesses, devices, data and processes.
“The Smart Zimbabwe 2030 Master Plan will work through key specific sector-focused integrated Pillars which willact as Smart Solutions and these include: Smart Government; Smart Cities; Smart Agriculture; Smart Education; Smart Transport; Smart Health; Smart Tourism; and Smart Mining; among others. “These Pillars are anchored on the following strong foundation or common Platforms: Policy, regulation and standards; Secure and shared infrastructure; Partnerships, skills, capacity building and content development; and Confidence and security of networks and services,” she said.
Dr Mavetera said operationalization of the Smart Zimbabwe 2030 Master Plan call for a new paradigm shift where Government Ministries would be critical in the development of programmes and projects for specific Smart Solutions for the Sectors they superintend over.
“The Master Plan presents models of Smart Agriculture, Smart Government, Smart Education and Smart Cities, to name but a few as examples of the key tenets in a Smart Solutions environment.
“Coordination of the adoption, development and deployment of ICT solutions and applications should be properly managed under the guidance of the Ministry of ICT, Postal and Courier Services to avoid duplication and ensure optimal utilization of financial and human resources,” she said.
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