President Emmerson Mnangagwa has applaussed innovators in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) as ambassadors for economic developments and efficiency, citing they are there to create the prospects of the country by fostering e-commerce, e-government and e-learning facilities to students at high and tertiary institutions as well all stakeholders in the production and tertiary sectors.
He said this addressing students, ICT players and telecommunications companies such as Econet, Telecel, Net One, Tel One and Zimpost as well as several government officials at the officially launch of the ICT Innovation Drive and ICT policy in Harare on Tuesday.
President Mnangangwa has and continues to urge all sectors of the economy to harness the impact of ICT as it has the potential transform government’s innovations and partnership in the mainstream of communication to achieve Zimbabwe’s initial goals.
“The importance of this ICT policy will make the bases of communication progressively, thereby promote e-government, e-learning, and online services which strengthen networking services especially in e-marketing. We recognize that government will make use of these services so that they will be available in a transparent manner without corruption.” he said.
He urged all concerned stakeholders to maximise their efforts in the ICT.
He said, “The government is making great strides through investing in ICT through making of information centers and training of government officials towards the use of internet.”
He also urged those in the production sector not to be left out at a station by the modernity of ICT as he insisted that, “In agriculture sector, farmers should fully utilize this ICT so that they can receive relevant information when carrying farming researches, looking for market prices online as well as checking weather indexes.”
President Mnangagwa emphasised the need of protecting the young ones from the abuse of the internet in cases of viewing explicit material.
The policy has been crafted in a manner that remains relevant for the coming decades as proper implementation of ICT will create employments to the young people because they are so innovative and the Presidents of course feel proud of them.
He noteed his government has recognised the important of ICTs and funding for the young people who are in the field of innovations has been put in place as POTRAZ has availed funding to 6 innovative ICT players: Oyo Music, Purple Science, Shift Organic Technologies, Red Pen, Afrimom and Native Projects for their performances.
The Minister of Information Communication Technology and Cyber Security, Supa Mandiwanzira pleaded for the government to fund innovators in the ICTs sector.
“The ICTs are there to bridge the gap between traditional way of communication and the modern one as the new framework policy is accommodating new players in the ICTs so that if fully harnessed it will transform the economy of this nation,” Mandiwanzira said.
