Story by Tapiwa Machemedze
The Second Republic has achieved another milestone in the utilisation of ICTs to improve people’s lives following the commissioning of the Mushumbi Community Information Centre, a post office and the distribution of 159 laptops to schools in Mashonaland Central Province.
People of all ages from Mbire district have been included in the economic and social development matrix spelt out in the National Development Strategy One, which is the roadmap to the attainment of an upper-middle-income society by 2030.
“We are going to benefit from these computers by researching on the internet and learning new information,” said a community member.
Another said, “In the past, we faced challenges of learning about computers theoretically so now that we have them at the CIC, it’s going to bring practical lessons which will be easy to grasp.”
Mbire legislator, Honourable David Butau said, “This is true emancipation for the people. Those who are not familiar with the district do not have an appreciation of the great lengths pensioners underwent to access their pensions. We have places like Kanyemba where they would travel 180 kilometres to get to Guruve, the nearest post office and they would wake up as early as 2 am to catch the bus in an environment infested with wildlife.”
The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (POTRAZ) is encouraging communities to fully exploit free and concessionary services being offered at community information centres to unlock opportunities in the digital economy.
“To date, the authority successfully established a total of 202 Community Information Centres (CICs) across the country, 11 of which are in Mashonaland Central. This includes 146 sites integrated within post offices, 24 containerised village information centres and 32 newly constructed centres sites. These facilities are instrumental in democratising access to technology with free internet and basic computer skills training,” said POTRAZ’s deputy director general Mr Alfred Marisa.
The Minister of ICT, Postal and Courier Services, Honourable Tatenda Mavetera said the government intends to ensure inclusive development countrywide.
“Our President’s vision is for no place to be left behind. We opened a base station at Nyamuseva and we opened a computer lab. We are working with POTRAZ to ensure that our children learn computers and ICT and don’t get left behind others in Harare, Bulawayo or any other place you can think of. So today, we are here to commission a community information centre,” she said.
Through the Universal Services Fund (USF), POTRAZ has also connected the internet to 132 health centres in Mashonaland Central Province.
