HAS AFRICA'S & YES ZIMBABWE’S ICT RENAISSANCE BEGUN ?

“It is widely recognized that without embracing Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs), the gap between Africa and the rest of the world will continue to expand. Information and knowledge have increasingly become essential resources and raw materials in the global networked economy. Africa can exploit these technologies to become fully integrated into the global economy and accelerate socio-economic development.” 1

To put that “gap” into perspective “a meeting was held were the participants were discussing the progress that great civilizations past and present have made. They were discussing the progress we have made in the Arts, in the Sciences, in Technology. They were discussing the progress of nations and in that discussion Africa factored in and a comment was made by some specialist or the other that at the current rate of growth, development and progress of Africa, collectively, it would take Africa 250 years to be where the United States of America is today. What the statement implies is that we have a development deficit.2

In our previous edition we had a write-up by the Ministry of ICT articulating their Mission, Expected Functions, Selected KEY Activities at Level 1 and Critical Non-MICT Responsibilities at Level 2 and the Strength of The Ministry. For any meaningful progress to occur, one should understand his present location and think of an expected end which will lead to the creation of a plan of action as to how to join the two locus points. Visionaries think in reverse mode where they envision themselves at the end of the journey before they even take the first step. It needs to be understood and embraced that ICTs have to be given pole position in our National and yes Continental Vision if we endeavor to achieve growth and development as a people.

There is a shift which we must embrace at any cost or suffer serious retardation that will leave us needing deliverance from either above or our previous colonizers but unfortunately the choice of who delivers us shall not lie with us. I shudder to think the later shall ever again desire to colonize us as we will be useless to them without the correct knowledge and usage of ICTs. In simple terms the world has changed from being “Physical” Resources and or labour Driven to Information and Data Mining driven. The whole idea is that you don’t need to work hard anymore but you need to work smart. It goes without arguing that Africans are hard workers, we totally love working hard but surely by now there are some day to day processes which should take us the least amount of time and effort.2 One idea comes to mind, generally Zimbabweans eat sadza at least once a day and the amount of effort it takes in preparing such a meal is tremendous as your consumptive market grows larger, the more the consumers the more the effort. Why and how is it that we have not automated such an important task to the level that every household should utilize such technology and hence improve on productivity and time management? The thrust now is towards Information gathering and sharing. Knowledge is more powerful than a gun or any device available to man’s whims. Where do we really stand as a people as “The “digital divide” however, is still at its most extreme in Africa. In absolute terms, networked readiness is still at a very early stage of development compared to other regions of the world. Of the approximately 816 million
people in Africa in 2001, it is estimated1 that only:
one in four have a radio (200 million);
one in 13 have a television (62 million);
one in 35 have a mobile telephone (24 million);
one in 39 have a fixed line (21 million);
one in 130 have a personal computer (PC) (5.9 million);
one in 160 use the Internet (5 million);
one in 400 have pay-television (2 million).
These figures do not take into consideration the widespread sharing of media that takes place in Africa (often ten people may read the same newspaper or share an Internet account, and a whole village may use a single telephone line or crowd around a television set at night); nevertheless, it appears that sub-Saharan Africa may be slipping behind when compared to south Asia, the other least developed region.”3

“To Rwayitare, broadband, like telecoms was something we would all soon find impossible to live without. ‘We all need broadband to run a modern lifestyle. It’s essential, like water and electricity,’ Rwayitare’s plan was to deliver what he called a ‘triple play’ of services: high-speed data, voice and video to homes in South Africa using already existing electricity grid infrastructure... Voice has no more future; video is the future and for that you need a 20MB broadband line. My dream is that by 2010, South Africa will get real broadband. I am looking forward to watching Brazil (playing in the 2010 World Cup) in high-resolution broadband, which will be 40 times faster than today’s internet services. We have no legacy system to overcome in this country, so we can use the best technology on the market to make this dream come true.”4

We unfortunately cannot all be pioneers but where credit should be given we need to take not a leaf but leaves from other people’s books if we are to forge ahead and make meaningful progress. The blueprint is rightly before us but surely we have to be willing to eat of the fat of the land which by the way has seized to be the issue but how to achieve the greatest productivity from it through Knowledge based systems that work optimally. “We need to sit down and cry hard as to why we continue to be consumers of what others make while we do not even try to make something of value”5 or maybe no value but which the world will consume like one of the most popular products ever made which is known in all continents and drank daily by literally billions of people worldwide but has zero nutritional value. “Africa is the second largest of the earth’s seven continents, covering about 30 330 000sq km. It comprises about 22 percent of the world’s total land area…The continent, as of 2009, has a population around 1 billion, with almost 800 languages spoken. Most archeologists and anthrolopogists currently agree that human beings originated in Africa and then spread out across the world.”6

To bring everything into perspective, there is need for a concerted effort by both the Private sector and the Government to consider the global playing field we find ourselves in and to fully embrace and utilize ICTs to achieve growth and progress. The Ministry that is ICT has been set up, and should be regarded as the rallying point for all other Ministries as ICTs affect all and sundry. Be it Agriculture, Mining, Industry, Commerce you name it there is need for information and communication technologies (ICTs) to be incorporated into the daily business cultures. Once the initial steps have been taken and the Usage Level has been achieved there is need for transference of impetus to not only recognition but to technology creation (Manufacturing of ICTs) and invention. “…Given these disparities, the digital divide is really a reflection of existing disparities between the haves and have-nots. As a meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) put it, ‘The digital divide is a symptom of existing economic and social divides, which will widen even further if developing countries are not helped to take advantage of ICT in tackling economic and social problems and are denied access to markets that are becoming increasingly ICT-dependant as part of globalization’”7 “The Perspective of High-income Countries – According to the Human Development Report (HDR) of 2001, ‘Leaders8 (Technology Achievement Index – TAI) – topped by Finland, the United States, Sweden and Japan – are at the cutting edge of technological innovation. Technological innovation is self sustaining, and these countries have high achievements in technology creation, diffusion and skills. Coming fifth is the Republic of Korea, and 10th is Singapore – two countries that have advanced rapidly in technology in recent decades. This group is set apart from the rest by its higher invention index…The view of industrialized countries is that ICTs can enable the economy and all sectors of human activities. There is clear proof that the adoption of ICTs in the 1990s in the USA is directly related to increases in efficiency that have translated into increased rates of economic growth and GDP. The USA has recognized that ICTs are major enablers of the economy and , as a sector, major contributors to GNP. Many industrialized countries have developed ambitious plans to connect their citizens (e.g. Connecting Canadians strategy in Canada) or deploy ICTs throughout society and the economy …These countries are also leaders in providing government online (GOL) services to their citizens.”9

“HAS AFRICA'S and yes ZIMBABWE’s 10 ICT RENAISSANCE BEGUN?
The efforts deployed by Africa to extend Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) access are bearing fruit, with more and more African nations embracing full-scale regulatory reform. Market liberalization and regulatory reform are designed to attract a surge of investment in the ICT sector and exploit the potential of low-cost technologies to provide affordable access to ICTs.
A glance at the ICT policy landscape across Africa shows real signs of pioneering and innovation. For many African policy-makers it is clear that market reform will take the leading role in the continent's development. Africa is the fastest growing region for mobile communications and may well present one of the most fertile grounds for ICT investment anywhere in the world.”11

“Wherefore seeing we also are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”12