Zimbabwe Times
27 April 2009
By Ray Matikinye

BULAWAYO – Government is considering reducing the amount of school fees charged in primary schools as “hardly any parent can afford” those announced recently although the cutback will not be dramatic, Education, Sport and Culture minister, Senator David Coltart says.

Senator Coltart told parents and party supporters at a constituency meeting at Mahatshula Primary school in the city on Saturday that the level of fees announced in March was arrived at after consultation with experts who set the figures as the amounts needed to educate a child a term.

There has been growing outrage from parents who say they cannot afford the US$150 fee announced when most of the civil servants are paid a US$100 monthly allowance.

But Coltart said his ministry had put in place a new policy where parents would apply for relief through a Means Test Application (MTA).

The MTA requires parents who cannot afford the fees to apply at every school through the school head who, together with the parents committee, will assess the level of fees they can pay. MTA is unlike the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) which was administered in Harare but had discontinued giving assistance to pupils without means to pay fees due to lack of funds.

Under BEAM some schools that had applied for funds have not received what they had applied for, for the past three years before the program was discontinued.

“We know that people are suffering, businesses are closing and financial assistance from donors is not forthcoming as fast as we would have anticipated. Parents will have to play an active role in making sure the schools are kept open by contributing whatever they can afford,” Coltart said.

Zimbabwe’s education system is on a knife’s edge and risks disintegration unless government finds donors willing to bankroll salary demands by an estimated 80 000 teachers to persuade them to remain on their jobs up to a time when the country can start to generate foreign currency of its own through sustainable economic activities.

Since January teachers, who form the bulk of the civil service, have not received any salaries.
Instead, they have received monthly allowances that can hardly cater for their housing, transport and other basic needs such as school fees for their own children. Most of the schools are in a state of decline because government has not put enough money into the education sector.

Last year’s Grade Seven and “O” Level examination results have not been released because funds provided by donors, particularly UNICEF, have run out.

Coltart said most potential donors had no confidence in the Global Political Agreement which they say has not been implemented properly.

“We might get just enough funds to get the education system going. We are looking at incentives to keep teachers on the job and this alone required US$4, 5 million assuming we increase teachers’ allowances to US$150 a month,” Coltart said.

Teachers’ unions have threatened that their members will not report for work when schools open in May unless they are paid proper salaries, and not the allowances which they are receiving at the moment.

All public servants regardless of seniority or grade receive the same amount and this has riled professionals who feel the practice does not reward professionalism and academic qualification.

Sunday News
26 April 2009
By Robin Muchetu and Chipo Mudarikwa

THE Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) has given the Government up to Thursday this week to come up with a proper salary structure — where the lowest paid educators will earn 15 000 rand per month or risk another devastating job action, it has been learnt.

This was disclosed by the president of the association, Mrs Tendai Chikowore, in an interview in Bulawayo on the sidelines of the association’s 28th annual national conference yesterday.
She said another meeting with Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, Senator David Coltart, was scheduled for Thursday.

“We, as the backbone of the education system, need to be adequately paid so that we produce a quality product at the end of the day and we propose that we get a salary similar to what is being offered by other countries in the SADC region which is about 15 000 rand. That way we will be happy,’’ said Mrs Chikowore.

ZIMTA also called on the Government to allocate them a clothing allowance which would see them wearing uniforms like other civil servants such as nurses since their allowances were not sufficient to buy expensive clothes.

“Our code of conduct entails that we put on decent clothing like uniforms . . . nurses, policemen and other civil servants have them too. However, this has not been possible owing to the poor remuneration we receive,’’ said Mrs Chikowore.

The association also proposed that the Government should exempt teachers’ children from paying school fees as they could not afford to pay from the US$100 allowances they were getting.
It is virtually impossible for them to pay the proposed school fees, utility bills and other expenses with the paltry allowances, it said.

During the conference, which was hosted by Matabeleland South province, a number of concerns were raised by the delegates, chief among them being the poor remuneration from the Government.

ZIMTA lamented the fact that they had not had fruitful salary negotiations since September 2008 and were hoping that this time around they were going to win.

The Minister of Education Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator Coltart, said on Friday that Government was not collecting enough revenue to enable it to pay the salaries demanded by teachers and the donor community was reluctant to assist.

The secretary general of ZIMTA, Mr Richard Gundani was also optimistic on the incentives that would be sourced from the donor community although it was not certain when they would be made available.
He said that it was sad to note that the teachers’ children were not in school as their parents were not in a position to pay their fees, but the same teachers were expected to teach other people’s children.

“Donors should ensure that the books and desks they donate are being safe guarded and this is only possible if there are teachers and students to use and protect them. A lot of vandalism has occurred at some schools in Harare, some of the desks have been used to make coffins and this is not a positive move,” said Mr Gundani.

Mrs Chikowore said that there should be loan provisions for the teachers.

“A number of teachers want to advance themselves by going to universities and this is only possible if there are funds availed to them by the Government. There is need for decent and affordable housing for the teachers and again these funds should be made available by the Government,” he said.

Also present at the conference was the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) National Chaplain, Mrs Anastacia Kebaraee Agang, who said she was happy about the proceedings of the conference.
“The concerns raised are relevant and are workable if interested parties play an active role in the implementation of the proposed solutions.

“I am happy that the teachers raised their concerns in a calm manner, it is good that they complain. It is very normal for people to raise their complaints in a working environment. Their challenges are very big and they are not reacting violently,” she said.

The BTU also donated 50 000 pula to ZIMTA for sustenance.

The Government introduced a voucher system in February this year where civil servants would get groceries worth US$100, but with the advent of the inclusive Government Minister of Finance, Mr Tendai Biti said the vouchers would be redeemable for cash. This saw civil servants getting cash in place of vouchers.

Newsnet
25 April 2009

Zimbabweans have been urged to be patriotic and work together in order to resolve the current socio-economic problems facing the country.

This was said by the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart when addressing delegates at the ongoing 28th annual national conference of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association, ZIMTA, in Bulawayo.

Senator Coltart said the government fully understands the plight of teachers adding that it will be difficult to resolve the issue of salaries in the short term as money is not available in the government coffers.

He said the government is currently working on measures to tackle the grievances brought forward by the teaching fraternity.

The ZIMTA conference started on Thursday.

The Guardian
Friday, 24 April 2009

Jacob Zuma, whose African National Congress is on course to retain its parliamentary majority, has openly criticised Robert Mugabe’s autocratic rule

Jacob Zuma’s election victory in South Africa has been welcomed by ministers in Zimbabwe as intensifying pressure on president Robert Mugabe.

Zuma, whose African National Congress (ANC) looked on course last night to retain its two-thirds parliamentary majority, has been outspoken in his criticism of Mugabe’s autocratic rule.

He has since come out in support of the power-sharing agreement between Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Morgan Tsvangirai. Zuma has criticised his predecessor Thabo Mbeki’s approach of “quiet diplomacy” towards the crisis-torn neighbour.

Tendai Biti, finance minister in the unity government and secretary-general of the MDC, yesterday looked forward to a Zuma presidency. “I don’t think it will be quiet diplomacy,” he told the Guardian. “That was buried on 22 September 2008, the day Mbeki was removed. I expect a more forthright, honest and hands-on diplomacy.

“Jacob Zuma is not Thabo Mbeki and that means a lot. I know the man and meet him regularly and know the way he thinks.”

Unlike Britain and America, South Africa has thrown its weight behind the power-sharing agreement, despite concerns that Mugabe and his allies remain dominant. Biti added: “South Africa is leading the way in supporting us directly, including financial assistance. They recognise the problem requires international support. They’ve been calling for that consistently.”

Zuma, who has a track record on brokering peace deals in conflict areas, is thought to be keen to keep the ear of Mugabe. But he has family ties with the MDC: last year one of his daughters married the son of Welshman Ncube, a leading figure in the party.

David Coltart, Zimbabwe’s minister of education and an MDC Senator, said: “The key for us is that Jacob Zuma wins and assumes the presidency. Of the last three – Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe and Zuma – he has been the most outspoken. I think Robert Mugabe will be fairly nervous about his relationship with him.

“Zuma and Mugabe are very different characters. You would never see Mugabe singing a song in front of the faithful and dressed in casual attire.”

Coltart added: “There has been concern here that, because South Africans have been distracted, elements of Zanu-PF have been pushing the envelope. I think those who have been blatantly breaching the agreement will now have to watch themselves.”

South Africa has long been regarded as the democratic anchor of the continent. After the violent crackdown that followed last year’s disputed elections in Zimbabwe, Zuma said: “We cannot agree with Zanu-PF, we cannot agree with them on values. We fought for the right of people to vote. We fought for democracy.”

But the long-running bribery and corruption allegations against Zuma, dropped just before the election, left a nasty taste in the mouths of many, and there are concerns that he lacks credibility as a democratic flag-bearer.

Anxieties among Zuma’s critics grew yesterday as the ANC remained confident that it would narrowly retain its two-thirds parliamentary majority, giving it the power to change the constitution. With nearly 14.5 million votes counted, the ANC led with a 66.91% share.

The opposition Democratic Alliance claimed 15.62% while the Congress of the People (Cope), formed by a breakaway faction of the ANC last year, was trailing on 7.53%.

Sunday News
By Tendayi Madhomu
19 April 2009

THE Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) is broke after exhausting all the money extended to it by UNICEF — leaving it failing to process the results for public examinations written in 2008, Sunday News can reveal.

The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, confirmed last week that he had since applied for more funding from the Government to finish the long-awaited exercise, but the funds were still to be availed.

“We have insufficient money to complete the processing of the results and I have since applied for further funding from the government and we have not yet received anything,’’ he said.

Senator Coltart said the funds donated by UNICEF had been exhausted before the examination council had completed the marking exercise.

He, however, said that the registration for the June and November examinations for this year would continue as scheduled.

“It is our hope that we can proceed with the June examinations, but we still need to finish up the processing of the 2008 examinations results. The bulk of the marking is finished and we still need to pay our markers,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, educationists have said that the country’s education system has virtually collapsed due to the economic challenges bedevilling the country.

An educationist stated that the decision taken by the ministry that students proceed to form one and A-level without results was unwise.

“This was just not useful considering that pupils were not taught well last year. The second term results were mere assumptions and most schools did not write mid-year examinations. In some cases, only paper One was written and students were mainly guessing for answers so that way their intelligence could not be judged,’’ she said.

Another educationist said examinations were meant to screen students and if they were not taken seriously, the working culture among students would disappear.

“Examinations keep students on their toes, they come with the qualitative aspect more than the mass education of people. They are meant to screen students,’’ he said.

He said the fact that ZJC examinations were scrapped and that the Grade Seven examinations were no longer being given importance had lowered the education standards in the country.

“When these examinations were still there and taken seriously, we would produce academically good students, our education system has become weak,’’ he said.

The expert, however, reiterated that the collapse of the education system had been hastened by the economic challenges being faced by the country.

“With improvements in remuneration of teachers, facilities and the availability of resources, the education system can definitely be revived,’’ he said.

He acknowledged the great strides made in the education sector since independence, adding that a lot of people had benefited. “ZIMSEC started well when it took over from Cambridge but has recently lost its way.”

The Herald
By Sydney Kawadza
18th April 2009

ZIMBABWEAN children should put more effort in their schoolwork to avoid wasting their parents’ resources and efforts in educating them, President Mugabe has said.

Speaking at the annual children’s party he traditionally co-hosts with the First Lady, Amai Grace Mugabe, on the eve of the country’s Independence anniversary, President Mugabe said parents worked hard in tough times to send their children to school.

He also paid tribute to teachers who have remained committed to their duties despite the challenges facing them over the years.

“We want to express our gratitude to parents for their understanding, for being prepared to send their children to school. We didn’t have to pass laws to force parents to send their children to school like other countries.

“The parents have had the compassion to send their children to school. It was otherwise the State that felt had been compelled to provide schools for the children.

“Practically every family wants to send their children to school even up to university level,” he said.

President Mugabe said children should remember that although the country had gone through tough economic times, parents continued to strive for a better education for them.

Some parents sold their livestock or did odd jobs to make sure that their children were educated.

“You must understand how hard your parents are working to get you to school. This is not the time for you to play truant, it’s not the time for children to waste their parents’ hard- earned cash by doing silly things at school,” he said.

The bad behaviour, President Mugabe said, included drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco and marijuana and engaging in immorality.

“You should grow up in the manner in which you are advised (because) if you miss the chance, you won’t get another,” he said.

Once bad behaviour is cultivated, he said, there is no way it can be changed when you grow up.

“Habits such as drinking (alcohol), taking ruinous drugs . . . refuse them, refuse the taste of beer, don’t even touch it and even a dog has refused such things.

“Zvino woswera uchiputa mbanje nerweseri, ukubhemi imbanje, hatshi, hatshi, hatshi!”

President Mugabe also shared with the children what he had learnt during his school days about the importance of good behaviour.

“I was taught during my school days, when I was about 14 years old, that once it (bad behaviour) is repeated it becomes a habit . . .

“He said ‘if you sow an act, you reap a habit, if you sow a habit, you reap a character and if you sow a character, it becomes your destiny’, that is what I was taught, so your character becomes your destiny,” he said.

President Mugabe said while the children celebrated their day, the Independence Day, they should not let their parents down.

“Zuva iri nderenyu vana vechidiki, nhasi namangwana, namangwana, namangwana. Independence ndeyenyu — ngatifarei takabatana, masijabule sibambene.

“Tinozvida kuti tose tifare (asi) haikona kutiregerera. Kana waenda kuchikoro wonzi wafoira, hazviite, hakuna vanhu vanozvarwa

neudofo.

“Tinoda kuti muve vana vanobudirira muzovawo vatungamiri vamangwana. Muzova maPresident nemaPrime Minister amangwana asi nyika haitongwe nemadofo.”

President Mugabe said although some teachers had been forced to leave their jobs because of the harsh economic times in the country, it was now time for them to come back.

“We are part of you, though some of us are retired, we are still teachers and we know what it means to impart knowledge to the children.

“We know we need to support you in your difficult times. You need to be well paid, to be well housed, to be well dressed and we admit Government has not been able to provide that and it means you have had to do with very little that has been provided,” he said.

Government, he said, recognised the sacrifices and professional commitment shown by teachers who remained in the country.

“We cannot blame those who failed to cope with the difficult circumstances and had to go to South Africa and other countries.

“However, there are some who absconded, who disappeared without giving notice, it was wrong. We condemn those who went without giving notice. Surely, you could have given notice,” he said.

President Mugabe, however, said Government would want the teachers and all professionals to come back and help rebuild the country.

“We want you to come back and man the schools. We need you now, the establishment of the inclusive Government means parties have agreed to look at our differences, sink these differences and uphold areas of agreement.

“We want to serve the country, to bring peace and stability. We want to infuse the spirit of confidence, a spirit of developing the country but we need to look at rising from the degeneration of the country.”

President Mugabe said Zimbabwe needs to stem the decline that has taken place for good.

“The recovery of the economy— after the launch of the Short-Term Emergency Recovery Programme — we need teachers, social services, clinics and hospitals and polytechnics and universities to function and our agricultural sector to yield and produce the crops we feed on and produce for export,” he said.

President Mugabe said Government would continue to work hard to improve the lives of Zimbabweans.

“We would continue to work for our children, for the future of the country and together we will overcome!”

The children’s party also drew leaders from the country’s main political parties including Education, Arts, Sport and Culture Minister David Coltart, his deputy Lazarus Dokora, Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu, Youth Affairs, Indigenisation and Employment Creation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere and Deputy Minister Thamsanqa Mahlangu among other senior Government officials.

New Zimbabwe.Com
By Sikhumbuzo Bongani Dube
17 April 2009

I WRITE to dispute your article ‘NCA vows to oppose constitutional reforms’.

I am a member of the NCA national taskforce and Chairperson of the Political Parties Liaison Committee of the NCA. This committee has representatives from all political parties that work with the NCA. We are not aware of such a resolution by the NCA.

It is not an NCA position that we will oppose constitutional reforms as agreed by the three political parties who formed a unity government unless Robert Mugabe was correct in saying current chairman Lovemore Madhuku is the NCA and vice-versa.

Zimbabweans have been through very traumatic times and the reality is that there has never been a constitution-making process that was acceptable to all citizens anywhere in the world. Zimbabwe is not an exception.

Zimbabweans need to be responsible with their fragile politics. We already have lost too many opportunities to progress our lives in the past 29 years of Zanu PF misrule and indeed the ‘not so inclusive government’ does not answer all our concerns BUT it is a workable starting point.
Madhuku should be reminded that in as much as he may not agree with the GPA process of constitution-making, there are some among us who think his proposal is unreasonable and unworkable.
Madhuku has a right and freedom to disagree with the process for whatever reasons but he should not abuse the NCA which was a people’s project for his own selfish ends.

What we propose the NCA should do is to put forward its own draft constitution which was written after extensive consultations. The constitutional commission should also take the findings of the 1999 Chidyausiku Constitutional Commission which were a fair record of people’s concerns then and use all these documents plus any other inputs they can collect to draw up a draft constitution which will be subjected to a referendum.

Zimbabweans can quibble all they want about the process but I think the product is more important than the process, and the acceptability of the product to Zimbabweans will be measured by a referendum which will be on an article by article basis and not a simple yes or no vote.

Besides, our generation cannot claim to possess wisdom that will cover the wants and whims of the unborn and even those not old enough to contribute to the constitution in the next 18 months.
Dr Madhuku may need to be reminded that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was the first NCA chairperson when it was formed in 1997 and many of the parliamentarians were either members of the NCA taskforce or NCA members.

Surely people like Hon. Jessie Majome, Hon. David Chimhini , Sen. David Coltart , Hon. Welshman Ncube , Hon. Gorden Moyo , Hon. Tendai Biti, Hon. Douglas Mwonzora (past vive-chairman) plus many others do understand the arguments and cannot credibly be accused of seeking to undermine a process they long championed.

I think Dr Madhuku must realise that the time for political jokes is no more. The country needs to commandeer all its intellectual and material capital towards national progress, the rest of the world is not waiting for us, besides we should not be the weak link in regional economic development efforts.

Sikhumbuzo Bongani Dube is the president of the ZAPU Federal Party and Chairperson NCA Political Parties Committee

AFP/Cricinfo
Steven Price in Harare
April 17, 2009

One of the rarest of cricketing dinosaurs finally emerged from cover in Dubai this week.

Peter Chingoka, Zimbabwe Cricket’s chairman since 1992, has been almost invisible since he was forced to miss the last ICC executive meeting in Australia after being banned from entering the country because of his links to the Mugabe regime.

With the roadshow back in the five-star comfort of Dubai, Chingoka was on safe ground. As the ICC’s longest-standing executive member – his 17-year tenure dwarfs the next most senior member, Kenya’s Samir Inamdar who was appointed in 2005 – it was only right that he attended.

But back in Zimbabwe, Chingoka has been completely anonymous. The general consensus is that he has been keeping a deliberately low profile following the appointment of David Coltart as the minister for education, sports and culture under the new joint government.

For now, Coltart’s priority is to try to rebuild Zimbabwe’s once impressive but now almost completely ruined education system. But insiders suggest that he is already formulating plans to tackle cricket, which is one of his passions, and some suggest that could see a complete clearout of the ZC hierarchy.

Under the old Mugabe regime, it was widely believed that Chingoka and other senior officers were in effect protected by their contacts to senior Zanu-PF officials inside the government.

While Mugabe and his party still wield considerable power, it is diminished. Coltart recently briefed journalists that he needed to get his facts in order before he summons Chingoka and others for a meeting.

When it happens, Chingoka is likely to be subjected to a far tougher grilling than he has ever faced before, either internally or from the less-than-tigerish ICC executive on which he has expertly forged enough alliances to be able to sidestep some of the trickier situations in recent years.

For now, Chingoka is back in the environment he enjoys the most, although he will miss the next shindig, the ICC’s centenary jamboree in London in June, because he is also unwelcome in the European Union.

But whether he is still around when the next-but-one meeting is held in October is quite another matter. Even the dinosaurs eventually had their time.

Steven Price is a freelance journalist based in Harare

Zimonline
By Robert Ndlovu
Thursday 16 April 2009

OPINION: Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is an umbrella term that includes all technologies for the manipulation and communication of information.

Recently the Minister of ICT, Nelson Chamisa announced a need for a national website, in order to put Zimbabwe back on the global map.

It was an important stance by the Hon Minister in so far as it showed top-level awareness that something needs to be done to bridge the digital divide in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe already has thousands of websites that are either hosted locally or outside the country. So it’s not so much about the need of a national website per se but rather a broader surgical approach to the ICT challenges that we face.

The digital divide or gap is set to widen even further if we do not take it upon ourselves to come up with specific solutions for our specific challenges.

Problem resolution at this level, calls for a sober, firm and accurate understanding the variance between what is on the ground and what needs to be achieved.

Any half-baked attempts to address the digital divide or gap will not only waste resources and opportunities but also literally take the nation a few decades backwards in terms of development.
A sound ICT policy impacts all sectors of the country – from the economy through health right up to mining and farming.

Here I would like to offer a bird’s eye view of key issues that impact and affect digitalisation efforts. Hopefully this will help the ICT leadership clarify, categorise and prioritise delivery mechanisms.
Zimbabwe, just like most African countries basically faces a number of hurdles in order to roll out effective computing technologies to the general population.

Rollout issues and challenges do include but are not limited to cost of computers and equipment, inadequate access technologies (data & voice), inadequate electricity, poor national and international bandwidth, regulation and licensing, censorship and control, brain drain and lack of skilled manpower and IT certifications, poorly designed and optimised websites, and e-governance.

In this article I address some key elements that affect Internet penetration and telephone usage. You will note that the main factors that affect telephony also affect data communications.

ICT has challenges in both the data and voice arenas. When we talk about bridging the digital divide we seek to reduce or eliminate entry barriers that the people face in both data and voice.

A number of terms will be used loosely in both areas. It is important however, for the ICT ministry to be able to dissect and separate common issues and independent issues that affect data and voice.
This approach is necessary so that the issues are addressed at root cause level. We seek to deal with the root problem like inadequate infrastructure manifested symptomatically as congestion or slow connections.

Voice and data networks are fast converging and this calls for a smart unified communications approach whose success hinges on reliable, fast and robust network infrastructure.

In Zimbabwe, just like in many African countries most people who access the Internet do so via cyber cafes, colleges, varsities, work place and quite a few do so at home.

The limiting factors are basically cost and unavailability. Most urban dwellers either cannot afford it or the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) serving them are out of capacity as discussed further below.
There are people who own farms who could easily afford it, but cannot do so from where they are because there is no network coverage of one form or the other in their area.

As a result Internet penetration is very low due to a number of issues. One of ICT’s core tasks is to help present operators unclog their stuffed networks and also adopting the concept of cyber cafes for many communities whose chance of using a computer or accessing the internet are next to none.
Donating computers to schools is great. More could be done in the form of setting up computer centres at libraries, district offices and all colleges using the cyber café approach.

This has the advantage of also spinning some business to the struggling ISPs. Hopes are hinged on the 3G data access. All I can say for now is that we hope Econet will not make it an elite service for the business brass.

Last year when I was in South Africa I was pretty impressed about how easy it is to connect to the Internet through MTN’s 3G using a USB dongle with a 3G capable SIM card.
Because right now in Zimbabwe before we even have 3G, is it possible to walk to a distribution shop and buy a SIM card?

Telephone access

Teledensity is a metric that is used to broadly estimate the number of telephone lines per 100 individuals.

Presently, Zimbabwe has a teledensity of about 3. This means that there are about 3 telephone lines per 100 people in Zimbabwe.

This figure heavily depends on the accuracy of the actual number of telephone lines divided by the total population. Now this is a very tricky estimation as millions of Zimbabweans have left the country while mobile operators have availed more lines.

The teledensity metric has been used as an indicator of economic development or governance.
Current voice providers include TelOne, NetOne, Econet and Telecel.

Now wireless usage in Zimbabwe has indeed enabled many people a means of communication. Wireless growth rate is highest in Africa because cellular phones offer any one within coverage range an equal opportunity to communicate.

At this stage Zimbabwe has serious complications that basically point to a collapsed economy. Cellular operators have managed just to stay afloat in a very un-business like environment. This has made it impossible for the operators to increase both capacity and coverage at a time when spares and maintenance were made in hard currency whilst end users were paying in a currency that had long lost its value.

Stabilisation of the economy should allow cellular companies to increase their coverage to more areas.

Cost of computers, equipment and software

Computer and Internet penetration is very low in Zimbabwe due to the cost of owning a PC or MAC and the cost of having an Internet connection.

What is needed in this area is for the stakeholders to identify equipment manufactures that can supply the Zimbabwean market with PCs in bulk and at competitive rates.

Secondly, in most developed nations people throw away their PCs just to get a new one. Most of these PCs are recyclable and the ministry can set up collection centres in the United States and United Kingdom to pick these PCs – clean them up and store them in a container before shipping them to Zimbabwe. This is already being done in Kenya and Ghana.

Thirdly, the ministry should encourage local companies to team up with PC manufactures and open up assembly plants in Zimbabwe. This should be one of ICT’s long-term plan and has bankable off shoot benefits like job creation, local availability of PCs, generation of forex through exports and generation of revenue for the state via the taxman.

The more people have access to PCs whether publicly via schools, libraries or Internet cafes the better.

One way of doing this is availing mobile digital libraries. Take an old ZUPCO bus. Refurbish it, install say 30 computers in the bus and pull a diesel-powered generator at the back.

These mobile libraries are used in Rwanda to visit remote areas with no PC access.

Windows based software is generally pricy because of licensing fees. The ICT ministry must encourage and even fund open source software initiatives in Zimbabwe.

This literally means that refurbished computers that are shipped into Zimbabwe can run on free but extremely loaded Linux based like uBuntu.

uBuntu is a community developed operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. uBuntu comes loaded with thousands of FREE open software applications like word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, web servers, email servers, fax servers, call centres, phone billing, internet café billing, hotel reservation, project management, programming tools, educational and scientific software and many more.

The cost of software cannot be a stumbling block in ICT development.

Electricity

All ICT gadgets use electricity to function. Inadequate power generation and unreliable transmission and distribution capacity has a direct impact on ICT development strategies.

This means that there can be no meaningful digital revolution if there is no electricity, full stop.

This calls for an elevated sense of urgency to resuscitate and improve power generation, transmission and distribution capacity.

It is too obvious that Zimbabwe has to explore and improve the present forms of power generation methods that may include but NOT limited to water, solar, wind, biogas and even nuclear energy.
Mail servers, web servers, routers, switches, base stations etc all need electricity to operate. So before we even worry about creation of a national website, it is necessary that we have adequate electricity to power the servers that will serve the web pages!

If people cannot access the website because the hosting ISP has experienced a power outage, then our problems are a lot wider and complex to be solved by having a national website.

Now erratic power supplies has made life horrible for ALL telcos or ISPs as they are forced to install alternative power sources, mainly diesel-powered generators.

This has pushed up operation costs for all companies. Notwithstanding that the diesel in question was at one stage scarce and only available via the black market. This is one of the many problems that have pushed the price of the service as soon as use of forex was officially approved.

Access technologies

Lack or unavailability of telecommunications infrastructure makes it difficult for remote areas to access e-services like the Internet or even basic email. Some farmers can afford PCs but they cannot access the Internet because either the telephone infrastructure is nonexistent, broken down or unreliable in their areas.

This points back directly to telco providers TelOne, Econet, NetOne, Telecel, Transmedia, Powertel, Africom, Ecoweb, ZOL, Mweb and Telecontract just to mention the main players.

It is very tough for these fellows to maintain their network infrastructure because of overheads like electricity for plants and base stations.

That aside, there is need for Zimbabwe to pursue more rigorous wireless last mile connection technologies like Wi-Max, Wi-Fi, 3G, CDMA etc. Already Powertel and TelOne are involved in CDMA rollouts in and around Harare.

National & International Bandwidth

Notwithstanding the limited access technologies available by remote stations to access e-resources, there is the question of available national and international bandwidth.

Your connection speed to you ISP might be 56k but the speed with which you access local and international websites will solely depend on the available capacity on the network you are connecting to.

It means that to pull a page from Harare ISP will depend on the traffic congestion between your access point to the web server which heavily relies on the number of connections made to that site.
Failure to connect to your ISP might be caused by total capacity of the access network to handle your call.

This is a national bandwidth issue. Zimbabwe has limited access points and this literally means a lot of people are competing to gain access to a thin pipe.

I am sure you know how frustrating it is to try and drive your new BMW in a very congested road with potholes!

To access emails from the web you will send a request via your ISP who will in turn forward your request to your email hosting service.

Now the issue of contentions comes into the picture again with internationally hosted sites. You have to compete with other users from your ISP and other ISPs to access websites via the international gateway that maybe a satellite dish in Mazowe!

So international access bottlenecks add to the other national bandwidth woes caused by few POPs (point of presence).

What is needed then is an increase in access points and using thicker bandwidth pipes between these POPs. Between main centres Zimbabwe uses fibre optics as the backbone. Also satellite alone cannot meet Zimbabwe’s bandwidth needs.

ICT must look into ways of connecting via fibre to the undersea cable in the Indian Ocean. The cables at the sea connect to the rest of the world at lightning speed. Why fibre? Fibre has a higher carrying capacity. A fair comparison between using copper wires and fibre would be comparing a wheelbarrow to a haulage truck to carry 100 tons of sand.

In a nutshell ICT needs to do some audit of both the national and international bandwidth info. This audit will point out major bottlenecks that choke Internet usage in Zimbabwe.

The solution after the audit should include amongst other things the following fibre network links: – Harare to Mutare to provide a link the Indian Ocean under sea cables in Beira. I am reliably informed that AfriCom is doing this project already.

– Bulawayo to Beitbridge to provide high-speed link to SA fibre network. South Africa is Zimbabwe’s largest trading partner. Having multiple gateways will assure and ensure that Zimbabwe does not experience total black out associated with network failure.

Investing in fibre optics today is not an option but a must.

Broadband Access

To address the slow speed and low bandwidth challenges that Zimbabwe faces, all efforts MUST point into the availing of broadband access.

The term broadband commonly refers to high-speed Internet access. Technically this refers to data transmission rates of at least 200 kilobits per second.

When you connect to your ISP you have two values that you deal with, download speed (down stream) and upload speed (up stream). As the names suggest, down streams refers to the data transfer rate when you are pulling resources from the Internet to you PC like downloading email, downloading software, listening to music or watching a video from Youtube.

Up stream refers to the data transfer rates when you are pushing or publishing content from you PC to the Internet. Examples here include sending email, posting your profile to Facebook and publishing your website.

Pull and push

In general most Internet users pull rather than push to the Internet and as a result the rates of downstream rates are higher than up stream rates. Broadband allows a higher data transfer rates than dial up rates.

An interesting comparison would be that of trying to empty a 200l drum of water using a hosepipe or a drinking straw!

Types of broadband technologies

The term broadband describes the data transfer rates but does not describe the underlying technology (physical and data link layer) used to achieve high data transfer rates.

The main broadband technologies are briefly summarised below. – DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is a wireline transmission technology that transmits data faster over traditional copper telephone lines already installed to homes and businesses.

– Coaxial cable makes use of cable modem service, enabling cable operators to provide broadband using the same coaxial cables that provide cable TV
– Fibre optic technology converts electrical signals carrying data to light and sends the light through transparent glass fibres about the diameter of a human hair.
– Wi-Max , Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology that provides wireless transmission of data using a variety of transmission modes, from point-to-multipoint links to portable and fully mobile Internet access.

The technology provides up to 72 Mbit/s symmetric broadband speeds without the need for cables. This is the way to go especially for metropolitans. The technology is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard (also called Broadband Wireless Access).

– 3G networks are wide-area cellular telephone networks that evolved to incorporate high-speed Internet access. Theoretically data rates approach 14.4 Mbps downstream and 5.8Mbps upstream.
Econet already has the 3G licence in Zimbabwe and we await its delivery. The other 3G licence was granted to Powertel using CDMA. This service is only limited to Harare.
– CDMA – Wireless landlines using Wireless Local Loop 450 MHz system used as last mile connection by TelOne in the wake of copper cable thefts and shortage. Only available in Harare, Chitungwiza & Ruwa.
– Satellite broadband is another form of wireless broadband, also useful for serving remote or sparsely populated areas. This technology basically uses satellite dishes pointed to the sky to connect to a geo-stationery satellite orbiting above the earth.
– Broadband over Powerline (BPL) is the delivery of broadband over the existing low and medium voltage electric power distribution network.

Broadband is always on, does not block phone lines and there is no need to reconnect to network after logging off.

Summarily connection bottlenecks exist at an access level, national bandwidth level before you even look at the international portion of the game. What we need is a bottom up approach and not top to bottom approach.

So after rolling broadband access architecture, the national network connecting to the international network MUST not act as a bottleneck.

A typical scenario in most African countries is that you can use Wi-Fi to connect your laptop to your access point at 54 Mbps! WOW that’s a lot!

Nope. If the connection from your ISP to the Internet is 56kbps then your broadband connection speed to your access point is NULL & VOID.

Regulation/Monopoly/Licensing

Most African governments really put a tight lid when it comes to regulation of telecommunications and media. That alone is a major obstacle in reducing the digital divide. For some strange reason or another most African governments, via the regulatory bodies, tend to become an obstacle to innovation and development.

Part of the fear is unfounded in that some authorities fear that opening up the telecommunications will either threaten government owned establishments or also fear of not being able to control information flow.

Of course this is insane. Only those who do evil stuff should be worried about a liberal telecommunications environment.

Naturally national security is a top priority for the regulation body. I must mention that of late POTRAZ has indeed tried to catch up with reality as I am aware that a few more companies have been granted different licences to operate different technologies in data, voice and wireless arenas like Econet doing 3G and AfriCom getting engaged in VoIP.

Considering that some of the operators who have monopolies have failed to meet their service obligations to provide reliable and affordable communications, the ICT ministry should explore ways of allowing smart partnerships between ISPs with local authorities/communities to provide telco service for their areas.

For instance, if the wireless company cannot afford to put a base station in my home area in Jambezi or Lower Gweru, smaller operators must be allowed to run and own base stations in such areas and share the profit with the backbone operator.

What I mean is at a district centre, small operators will install a base station, a data link and a power generator if need be. Then connect to the big operators switch via Wi-Max or microwave.

These small operators can’t afford to do a national rollout so they can manage to setup their own base stations for their respective areas and then connect to the main carrier. How the revenue from that base station is shared can then be worked out.

These are the ideas that ICT should be researching and establishing their viability potential.
TelOne, Powertel and Transmedia

These three companies enjoy unmatched monopolies based on their origins or parenting company namely PTC, ZESA and ZBC. These three companies have a combined capacity to reach all corners of Zimbabwe by virtue of their infrastructural inheritance for both data and voice.

The ICT ministry must carry out very thorough performance audits of these companies. It is an open secret that their failure is mainly due to political meddling and interference, which makes them operate more like social clubs than companies.

Despite their failure for years to provide adequate telephone services, electricity, radio and TV services these companies have moved into the Internet market with remarkable speed.

It is not clear why National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has not conceived a telco business unit based on their own data network for the rail system. Well Transtel would be a great idea but likely to be plagued by the same virus that affects its other three cousins.

Licensing and external investment

The issue of regulation will not be complete if no mention is made of the prohibitive nature of the licensing fees in the range of several million US dollars.

What makes it even more complicated is that should one wish to partner with a foreign investor, the imposition of fixed percentages for local ownership stake makes this really look like a circus.

Which sane investor is interested in investing in an environment where he/she is expected to invest more dollars but get the minority share? Fifty-one percent local stake sounds really attractive and nationally correct since indigenisation is the core agenda of empowering locals.

That however does not mean replacing common sense with hollow pride which has so far worked negatively against Zimbabwe. Pride alone has never fed any nation.

Wi-Fi

It appears that the ruling in the 90s to ban or restrict use of ISM frequencies 2.4 GHz and 5Hgz was not meant to protect scientific equipment used in hospitals from interference but a strategic move to monopolise the bandwidth to Transmedia.

It is the national broadcaster of television, radio and Internet access services in Zimbabwe on the afore mentioned frequencies. So one wonders what suddenly happened to hospital equipment protection.

Transmedia owns and operates all terrestrial broadcast infrastructures and as a new strategic business unit of ZBC it bridged VHF and IP so as to tap into wireless access.

Because of monopoly of this frequency band, wireless broadband has not grown as expected. I doubt if Transmedia has more than 800 customers with their tower located at Pockets Hill with no line of sight complication.

The ICT ministry together with POTRAZ must revisit the maximum power levels for Access Points to allow other players to beam data and voice over using 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz (Wi-Fi).
This will go a long way in enabling ISPs to connect more people using wireless broadband. Right now ISPs are trapped between a rock and a hard place as their last mile connection solution is limited mainly to twisted copper wires since both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz are locked down to one provider, Transmedia.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

Voice over IP is still a grey area in Zimbabwe. Obviously its success depends on reliable network infrastructure. With 3G on its way, POTRAZ should allow people to connect over IP and make calls.
Also a smart combination of wi-max and wi-fi can bring voice to many people that presently have NO hope of getting a TelOne line via copper or wireless CDMA. Businesses and organisations might be forced to install satellite dishes and then use their IP connectivity for both data and voice and bypass the national operators because they can’t get service from them!

Besides the obvious use of VoIP for voice, other spin offs can be realised in Zimbabwe like the deployment of call centres. This allows local companies to generate employment for the local community, generate scarce forex and revenue for the state in taxes.

Presently most favored call centre destinations are India, Malasyia, Philippines and of late Kenya and South Africa – thanks to their open VoIP policy.

VoIP opens so many avenues of communication between end users. For instance through use of open source PBX like Freeswitch, one can easily provide free voicemail mail service.

This is how it works. A Linux server running a PBX is a capability of creating infinite user extensions. So a particular user can sign up and be assigned an extension say 600244 and a PIN code – 9561. Now this user will have to call an access number say 011 800 600 to check and or send voicemails. If he does NOT have a personal phone this user can still use any phone just to retrieve his messages from the system.

So in short this person can advertise whatever business he is in and then specify his details as “Please call me on 011 800 600 ext 600244”. Callers will be greeted by an interactive voice response system that will ask them if they want (1) to check messages or (2) to send a message to another user.

Brain Drain & Skilled Manpower

The effect of brain drain on the digital revolution is obvious. As the country continues to lose more and more skilled and trained personnel, it becomes difficult for the nation to move forward in an attempt to turn around the economy. This applies to all sectors of the economy and not just ICT.
The GNU should be creative enough and try and lure skilled personnel back by coming up with well thought out “come back home schemes”. I am talking about highly trained professionals from all walks of life.

Trust me there are thousands of Zimbabweans in and outside the country prepared to help rebuild the country. The question of patriotism comes up. Ask what you can do for Zimbabwe and not what Zimbabwe can do for you? That’s fair enough.

Trust me most skilled professionals would not mind an incentive in the form of some small piece of land somewhere in Mvurwi or Insiza, if we expect to lure patriotic professionals to leave their well paying jobs at Cisco or Microsoft or BT and join the ICT in Zimbabwe. Patriotism is a two-headed beast.

ICT training & Certification

ICT training and development has not been spared the economic wrath that affects the whole country. As part of a long-term plan Zimbabwe’s ICT ministry must look into establishing more ICT-based institutes and academies as part of the digital empowerment plan.

Software programming is particularly one area in which ICT must look. Writing a computer code requires very few resources other than a computer and programming knowledge of certain languages like C++, Java, Python, Perl etc.

What is needed is that the ministry of ICT at a government level must travel to India and strike deals to have Indian programmers come and train students at various training academies in the country.
Software is a great product that is easily exported. This is where the Hon Minister should be setting his eyes as a long-term plan.

There is need to promote establishment of MORE academies that can provide ICT certifications that include but NOT limited to A +, N+, Security +, Linux +, Cisco etc.

Web Presence, Promotion and Optimisation

Designing and placing a website on the Internet is very simple and straightforward. But what matters is whether the website has been designed properly and optimised well so that it is searchable on the Internet. People use search engines to look for information, products and services.

A poorly developed website will affect that website’s visibility on the Internet. Most search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and Dogpile use various algorithms to rank websites.

The key in making our website visible includes search engine optimisation. This involves items like: – using certain key words in your website title and header and also depends on the number and quality of links on your web page, the actual content and relevance of your web pages, registering your website with different search engines.

Linking out to other websites and have them linked back to you is useful in making your website visible on the Internet.

A good website must be able to retain visitors and even encourage future visits. A good website must not only disseminate information to its visitors but must be able to call the visitors to action.

Like “click here to subscribe for free reports” or “click here to place a donation“ or “click here to get a call back from us” or “enter your cell phone number here to receive promotional info via SMS” etc.
This makes the website interactive and not static.

Website Standards

Zimbabweans are a very tech-savvy people. You don’t need to look far. Zimbabweans based both in Zimbabwe and outside run fairly successful websites ranging from news and media through money and shipping services right up to digital telephony services.

News websites dominate the number of websites run by Zimbabweans on the Internet. Since Zimbabwe government ministries and departments already have dozens of websites that are hardly searchable on the web, the ICT ministry must come up with a minimum standard guideline for website deployment.

Different ministries and departments do run their different websites, but some minimum quality standard or benchmark MUST be created by the ICT ministry.

If you look at the different Zimbabwe government websites, you will see varying designs which are not up to scratch, if I could be generous with my comments.

What is needed is a compliance standard that is set up by the ICT ministry.

Hats off to the webmasters who have managed to setup theses websites with little or NO training and resources. What needs to be done is to come up with a government website policy that clearly sets standards of design technique, layout, interactivity, promotion and optimisation.

e-Government

In 2005 an ICT Steering committee produced a detailed 124-page e-Readiness report. This report, sponsored by UNDP, covered almost all aspects of e-readiness like: – eAgriculture, eCommerce, eEducation, eMining, eHealth, eGovernance, eGovernment, eManufacturing and eTourism.

The ICT ministry must start by studying the eReadiness survey report (2005) and use it as a springboard to kick-start the digital dream. The report is detailed and thorough but might need to be updated in order to keep abreast with current ICT realities on the ground.

Then the ICT ministry must put together a team/board by pooling together highly skilled, competent and experienced individuals just as the Education Ministry did.

The Hon Education Minister David Coltart is a lawyer by profession and made a smart decision of putting together a board of education experts to execute the technical aspects of the challenges facing education in Zimbabwe.

This approach could be used by all GNU ministers so that the best brains, hands and hearts are pooled together to achieve a common purpose.

I must mention here that I deliberately did NOT discuss previous efforts by the government to censor, control and intercept Internet and voice traffic in the spirit of the inclusive government. Comments, corrections, questions and requests are most welcome.

Zimonline
By Robert Ndlovu
Thursday 16 April 2009

OPINION: Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is an umbrella term that includes all technologies for the manipulation and communication of information.

Recently the Minister of ICT, Nelson Chamisa announced a need for a national website, in order to put Zimbabwe back on the global map.

It was an important stance by the Hon Minister in so far as it showed top-level awareness that something needs to be done to bridge the digital divide in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe already has thousands of websites that are either hosted locally or outside the country. So it’s not so much about the need of a national website per se but rather a broader surgical approach to the ICT challenges that we face.

The digital divide or gap is set to widen even further if we do not take it upon ourselves to come up with specific solutions for our specific challenges.

Problem resolution at this level, calls for a sober, firm and accurate understanding the variance between what is on the ground and what needs to be achieved.

Any half-baked attempts to address the digital divide or gap will not only waste resources and opportunities but also literally take the nation a few decades backwards in terms of development.
A sound ICT policy impacts all sectors of the country – from the economy through health right up to mining and farming.

Here I would like to offer a bird’s eye view of key issues that impact and affect digitalisation efforts. Hopefully this will help the ICT leadership clarify, categorise and prioritise delivery mechanisms.
Zimbabwe, just like most African countries basically faces a number of hurdles in order to roll out effective computing technologies to the general population.

Rollout issues and challenges do include but are not limited to cost of computers and equipment, inadequate access technologies (data & voice), inadequate electricity, poor national and international bandwidth, regulation and licensing, censorship and control, brain drain and lack of skilled manpower and IT certifications, poorly designed and optimised websites, and e-governance.

In this article I address some key elements that affect Internet penetration and telephone usage. You will note that the main factors that affect telephony also affect data communications.

ICT has challenges in both the data and voice arenas. When we talk about bridging the digital divide we seek to reduce or eliminate entry barriers that the people face in both data and voice.

A number of terms will be used loosely in both areas. It is important however, for the ICT ministry to be able to dissect and separate common issues and independent issues that affect data and voice.
This approach is necessary so that the issues are addressed at root cause level. We seek to deal with the root problem like inadequate infrastructure manifested symptomatically as congestion or slow connections.

Voice and data networks are fast converging and this calls for a smart unified communications approach whose success hinges on reliable, fast and robust network infrastructure.

In Zimbabwe, just like in many African countries most people who access the Internet do so via cyber cafes, colleges, varsities, work place and quite a few do so at home.

The limiting factors are basically cost and unavailability. Most urban dwellers either cannot afford it or the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) serving them are out of capacity as discussed further below.
There are people who own farms who could easily afford it, but cannot do so from where they are because there is no network coverage of one form or the other in their area.

As a result Internet penetration is very low due to a number of issues. One of ICT’s core tasks is to help present operators unclog their stuffed networks and also adopting the concept of cyber cafes for many communities whose chance of using a computer or accessing the internet are next to none.
Donating computers to schools is great. More could be done in the form of setting up computer centres at libraries, district offices and all colleges using the cyber café approach.

This has the advantage of also spinning some business to the struggling ISPs. Hopes are hinged on the 3G data access. All I can say for now is that we hope Econet will not make it an elite service for the business brass.

Last year when I was in South Africa I was pretty impressed about how easy it is to connect to the Internet through MTN’s 3G using a USB dongle with a 3G capable SIM card.
Because right now in Zimbabwe before we even have 3G, is it possible to walk to a distribution shop and buy a SIM card?

Telephone access

Teledensity is a metric that is used to broadly estimate the number of telephone lines per 100 individuals.

Presently, Zimbabwe has a teledensity of about 3. This means that there are about 3 telephone lines per 100 people in Zimbabwe.

This figure heavily depends on the accuracy of the actual number of telephone lines divided by the total population. Now this is a very tricky estimation as millions of Zimbabweans have left the country while mobile operators have availed more lines.

The teledensity metric has been used as an indicator of economic development or governance.
Current voice providers include TelOne, NetOne, Econet and Telecel.

Now wireless usage in Zimbabwe has indeed enabled many people a means of communication. Wireless growth rate is highest in Africa because cellular phones offer any one within coverage range an equal opportunity to communicate.

At this stage Zimbabwe has serious complications that basically point to a collapsed economy. Cellular operators have managed just to stay afloat in a very un-business like environment. This has made it impossible for the operators to increase both capacity and coverage at a time when spares and maintenance were made in hard currency whilst end users were paying in a currency that had long lost its value.

Stabilisation of the economy should allow cellular companies to increase their coverage to more areas.

Cost of computers, equipment and software

Computer and Internet penetration is very low in Zimbabwe due to the cost of owning a PC or MAC and the cost of having an Internet connection.

What is needed in this area is for the stakeholders to identify equipment manufactures that can supply the Zimbabwean market with PCs in bulk and at competitive rates.

Secondly, in most developed nations people throw away their PCs just to get a new one. Most of these PCs are recyclable and the ministry can set up collection centres in the United States and United Kingdom to pick these PCs – clean them up and store them in a container before shipping them to Zimbabwe. This is already being done in Kenya and Ghana.

Thirdly, the ministry should encourage local companies to team up with PC manufactures and open up assembly plants in Zimbabwe. This should be one of ICT’s long-term plan and has bankable off shoot benefits like job creation, local availability of PCs, generation of forex through exports and generation of revenue for the state via the taxman.

The more people have access to PCs whether publicly via schools, libraries or Internet cafes the better.

One way of doing this is availing mobile digital libraries. Take an old ZUPCO bus. Refurbish it, install say 30 computers in the bus and pull a diesel-powered generator at the back.

These mobile libraries are used in Rwanda to visit remote areas with no PC access.

Windows based software is generally pricy because of licensing fees. The ICT ministry must encourage and even fund open source software initiatives in Zimbabwe.

This literally means that refurbished computers that are shipped into Zimbabwe can run on free but extremely loaded Linux based like uBuntu.

uBuntu is a community developed operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. uBuntu comes loaded with thousands of FREE open software applications like word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, web servers, email servers, fax servers, call centres, phone billing, internet café billing, hotel reservation, project management, programming tools, educational and scientific software and many more.

The cost of software cannot be a stumbling block in ICT development.

Electricity

All ICT gadgets use electricity to function. Inadequate power generation and unreliable transmission and distribution capacity has a direct impact on ICT development strategies.

This means that there can be no meaningful digital revolution if there is no electricity, full stop.

This calls for an elevated sense of urgency to resuscitate and improve power generation, transmission and distribution capacity.

It is too obvious that Zimbabwe has to explore and improve the present forms of power generation methods that may include but NOT limited to water, solar, wind, biogas and even nuclear energy.
Mail servers, web servers, routers, switches, base stations etc all need electricity to operate. So before we even worry about creation of a national website, it is necessary that we have adequate electricity to power the servers that will serve the web pages!

If people cannot access the website because the hosting ISP has experienced a power outage, then our problems are a lot wider and complex to be solved by having a national website.

Now erratic power supplies has made life horrible for ALL telcos or ISPs as they are forced to install alternative power sources, mainly diesel-powered generators.

This has pushed up operation costs for all companies. Notwithstanding that the diesel in question was at one stage scarce and only available via the black market. This is one of the many problems that have pushed the price of the service as soon as use of forex was officially approved.

Access technologies

Lack or unavailability of telecommunications infrastructure makes it difficult for remote areas to access e-services like the Internet or even basic email. Some farmers can afford PCs but they cannot access the Internet because either the telephone infrastructure is nonexistent, broken down or unreliable in their areas.

This points back directly to telco providers TelOne, Econet, NetOne, Telecel, Transmedia, Powertel, Africom, Ecoweb, ZOL, Mweb and Telecontract just to mention the main players.

It is very tough for these fellows to maintain their network infrastructure because of overheads like electricity for plants and base stations.

That aside, there is need for Zimbabwe to pursue more rigorous wireless last mile connection technologies like Wi-Max, Wi-Fi, 3G, CDMA etc. Already Powertel and TelOne are involved in CDMA rollouts in and around Harare.

National & International Bandwidth

Notwithstanding the limited access technologies available by remote stations to access e-resources, there is the question of available national and international bandwidth.

Your connection speed to you ISP might be 56k but the speed with which you access local and international websites will solely depend on the available capacity on the network you are connecting to.

It means that to pull a page from Harare ISP will depend on the traffic congestion between your access point to the web server which heavily relies on the number of connections made to that site.
Failure to connect to your ISP might be caused by total capacity of the access network to handle your call.

This is a national bandwidth issue. Zimbabwe has limited access points and this literally means a lot of people are competing to gain access to a thin pipe.

I am sure you know how frustrating it is to try and drive your new BMW in a very congested road with potholes!

To access emails from the web you will send a request via your ISP who will in turn forward your request to your email hosting service.

Now the issue of contentions comes into the picture again with internationally hosted sites. You have to compete with other users from your ISP and other ISPs to access websites via the international gateway that maybe a satellite dish in Mazowe!

So international access bottlenecks add to the other national bandwidth woes caused by few POPs (point of presence).

What is needed then is an increase in access points and using thicker bandwidth pipes between these POPs. Between main centres Zimbabwe uses fibre optics as the backbone. Also satellite alone cannot meet Zimbabwe’s bandwidth needs.

ICT must look into ways of connecting via fibre to the undersea cable in the Indian Ocean. The cables at the sea connect to the rest of the world at lightning speed. Why fibre? Fibre has a higher carrying capacity. A fair comparison between using copper wires and fibre would be comparing a wheelbarrow to a haulage truck to carry 100 tons of sand.

In a nutshell ICT needs to do some audit of both the national and international bandwidth info. This audit will point out major bottlenecks that choke Internet usage in Zimbabwe.

The solution after the audit should include amongst other things the following fibre network links: – Harare to Mutare to provide a link the Indian Ocean under sea cables in Beira. I am reliably informed that AfriCom is doing this project already.

– Bulawayo to Beitbridge to provide high-speed link to SA fibre network. South Africa is Zimbabwe’s largest trading partner. Having multiple gateways will assure and ensure that Zimbabwe does not experience total black out associated with network failure.

Investing in fibre optics today is not an option but a must.

Broadband Access

To address the slow speed and low bandwidth challenges that Zimbabwe faces, all efforts MUST point into the availing of broadband access.

The term broadband commonly refers to high-speed Internet access. Technically this refers to data transmission rates of at least 200 kilobits per second.

When you connect to your ISP you have two values that you deal with, download speed (down stream) and upload speed (up stream). As the names suggest, down streams refers to the data transfer rate when you are pulling resources from the Internet to you PC like downloading email, downloading software, listening to music or watching a video from Youtube.

Up stream refers to the data transfer rates when you are pushing or publishing content from you PC to the Internet. Examples here include sending email, posting your profile to Facebook and publishing your website.

Pull and push

In general most Internet users pull rather than push to the Internet and as a result the rates of downstream rates are higher than up stream rates. Broadband allows a higher data transfer rates than dial up rates.

An interesting comparison would be that of trying to empty a 200l drum of water using a hosepipe or a drinking straw!

Types of broadband technologies

The term broadband describes the data transfer rates but does not describe the underlying technology (physical and data link layer) used to achieve high data transfer rates.

The main broadband technologies are briefly summarised below. – DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is a wireline transmission technology that transmits data faster over traditional copper telephone lines already installed to homes and businesses.

– Coaxial cable makes use of cable modem service, enabling cable operators to provide broadband using the same coaxial cables that provide cable TV
– Fibre optic technology converts electrical signals carrying data to light and sends the light through transparent glass fibres about the diameter of a human hair.
– Wi-Max , Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology that provides wireless transmission of data using a variety of transmission modes, from point-to-multipoint links to portable and fully mobile Internet access.

The technology provides up to 72 Mbit/s symmetric broadband speeds without the need for cables. This is the way to go especially for metropolitans. The technology is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard (also called Broadband Wireless Access).

– 3G networks are wide-area cellular telephone networks that evolved to incorporate high-speed Internet access. Theoretically data rates approach 14.4 Mbps downstream and 5.8Mbps upstream.
Econet already has the 3G licence in Zimbabwe and we await its delivery. The other 3G licence was granted to Powertel using CDMA. This service is only limited to Harare.
– CDMA – Wireless landlines using Wireless Local Loop 450 MHz system used as last mile connection by TelOne in the wake of copper cable thefts and shortage. Only available in Harare, Chitungwiza & Ruwa.
– Satellite broadband is another form of wireless broadband, also useful for serving remote or sparsely populated areas. This technology basically uses satellite dishes pointed to the sky to connect to a geo-stationery satellite orbiting above the earth.
– Broadband over Powerline (BPL) is the delivery of broadband over the existing low and medium voltage electric power distribution network.

Broadband is always on, does not block phone lines and there is no need to reconnect to network after logging off.

Summarily connection bottlenecks exist at an access level, national bandwidth level before you even look at the international portion of the game. What we need is a bottom up approach and not top to bottom approach.

So after rolling broadband access architecture, the national network connecting to the international network MUST not act as a bottleneck.

A typical scenario in most African countries is that you can use Wi-Fi to connect your laptop to your access point at 54 Mbps! WOW that’s a lot!

Nope. If the connection from your ISP to the Internet is 56kbps then your broadband connection speed to your access point is NULL & VOID.

Regulation/Monopoly/Licensing

Most African governments really put a tight lid when it comes to regulation of telecommunications and media. That alone is a major obstacle in reducing the digital divide. For some strange reason or another most African governments, via the regulatory bodies, tend to become an obstacle to innovation and development.

Part of the fear is unfounded in that some authorities fear that opening up the telecommunications will either threaten government owned establishments or also fear of not being able to control information flow.

Of course this is insane. Only those who do evil stuff should be worried about a liberal telecommunications environment.

Naturally national security is a top priority for the regulation body. I must mention that of late POTRAZ has indeed tried to catch up with reality as I am aware that a few more companies have been granted different licences to operate different technologies in data, voice and wireless arenas like Econet doing 3G and AfriCom getting engaged in VoIP.

Considering that some of the operators who have monopolies have failed to meet their service obligations to provide reliable and affordable communications, the ICT ministry should explore ways of allowing smart partnerships between ISPs with local authorities/communities to provide telco service for their areas.

For instance, if the wireless company cannot afford to put a base station in my home area in Jambezi or Lower Gweru, smaller operators must be allowed to run and own base stations in such areas and share the profit with the backbone operator.

What I mean is at a district centre, small operators will install a base station, a data link and a power generator if need be. Then connect to the big operators switch via Wi-Max or microwave.

These small operators can’t afford to do a national rollout so they can manage to setup their own base stations for their respective areas and then connect to the main carrier. How the revenue from that base station is shared can then be worked out.

These are the ideas that ICT should be researching and establishing their viability potential.
TelOne, Powertel and Transmedia

These three companies enjoy unmatched monopolies based on their origins or parenting company namely PTC, ZESA and ZBC. These three companies have a combined capacity to reach all corners of Zimbabwe by virtue of their infrastructural inheritance for both data and voice.

The ICT ministry must carry out very thorough performance audits of these companies. It is an open secret that their failure is mainly due to political meddling and interference, which makes them operate more like social clubs than companies.

Despite their failure for years to provide adequate telephone services, electricity, radio and TV services these companies have moved into the Internet market with remarkable speed.

It is not clear why National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has not conceived a telco business unit based on their own data network for the rail system. Well Transtel would be a great idea but likely to be plagued by the same virus that affects its other three cousins.
Licensing and external investment
The issue of regulation will not be complete if no mention is made of the prohibitive nature of the licensing fees in the range of several million US dollars.
What makes it even more complicated is that should one wish to partner with a foreign investor, the imposition of fixed percentages for local ownership stake makes this really look like a circus.
Which sane investor is interested in investing in an environment where he/she is expected to invest more dollars but get the minority share? Fifty-one percent local stake sounds really attractive and nationally correct since indigenisation is the core agenda of empowering locals.
That however does not mean replacing common sense with hollow pride which has so far worked negatively against Zimbabwe. Pride alone has never fed any nation.
– Wi-Fi
It appears that the ruling in the 90s to ban or restrict use of ISM frequencies 2.4 GHz and 5Hgz was not meant to protect scientific equipment used in hospitals from interference but a strategic move to monopolise the bandwidth to Transmedia.
It is the national broadcaster of television, radio and Internet access services in Zimbabwe on the afore mentioned frequencies. So one wonders what suddenly happened to hospital equipment protection.
Transmedia owns and operates all terrestrial broadcast infrastructures and as a new strategic business unit of ZBC it bridged VHF and IP so as to tap into wireless access.
Because of monopoly of this frequency band, wireless broadband has not grown as expected. I doubt if Transmedia has more than 800 customers with their tower located at Pockets Hill with no line of sight complication.
The ICT ministry together with POTRAZ must revisit the maximum power levels for Access Points to allow other players to beam data and voice over using 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz (Wi-Fi).
This will go a long way in enabling ISPs to connect more people using wireless broadband. Right now ISPs are trapped between a rock and a hard place as their last mile connection solution is limited mainly to twisted copper wires since both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz are locked down to one provider, Transmedia.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
Voice over IP is still a grey area in Zimbabwe. Obviously its success depends on reliable network infrastructure. With 3G on its way, POTRAZ should allow people to connect over IP and make calls.
Also a smart combination of wi-max and wi-fi can bring voice to many people that presently have NO hope of getting a TelOne line via copper or wireless CDMA. Businesses and organisations might be forced to install satellite dishes and then use their IP connectivity for both data and voice and bypass the national operators because they can’t get service from them!
Besides the obvious use of VoIP for voice, other spin offs can be realised in Zimbabwe like the deployment of call centres. This allows local companies to generate employment for the local community, generate scarce forex and revenue for the state in taxes.
Presently most favored call centre destinations are India, Malasyia, Philippines and of late Kenya and South Africa – thanks to their open VoIP policy.
VoIP opens so many avenues of communication between end users. For instance through use of open source PBX like Freeswitch, one can easily provide free voicemail mail service.
This is how it works. A Linux server running a PBX is a capability of creating infinite user extensions. So a particular user can sign up and be assigned an extension say 600244 and a PIN code – 9561. Now this user will have to call an access number say 011 800 600 to check and or send voicemails. If he does NOT have a personal phone this user can still use any phone just to retrieve his messages from the system.
So in short this person can advertise whatever business he is in and then specify his details as “Please call me on 011 800 600 ext 600244”. Callers will be greeted by an interactive voice response system that will ask them if they want (1) to check messages or (2) to send a message to another user.
Brain Drain & Skilled Manpower
The effect of brain drain on the digital revolution is obvious. As the country continues to lose more and more skilled and trained personnel, it becomes difficult for the nation to move forward in an attempt to turn around the economy. This applies to all sectors of the economy and not just ICT.
The GNU should be creative enough and try and lure skilled personnel back by coming up with well thought out “come back home schemes”. I am talking about highly trained professionals from all walks of life.
Trust me there are thousands of Zimbabweans in and outside the country prepared to help rebuild the country. The question of patriotism comes up. Ask what you can do for Zimbabwe and not what Zimbabwe can do for you? That’s fair enough.
Trust me most skilled professionals would not mind an incentive in the form of some small piece of land somewhere in Mvurwi or Insiza, if we expect to lure patriotic professionals to leave their well paying jobs at Cisco or Microsoft or BT and join the ICT in Zimbabwe. Patriotism is a two-headed beast.
ICT training & Certification
ICT training and development has not been spared the economic wrath that affects the whole country. As part of a long-term plan Zimbabwe’s ICT ministry must look into establishing more ICT-based institutes and academies as part of the digital empowerment plan.
Software programming is particularly one area in which ICT must look. Writing a computer code requires very few resources other than a computer and programming knowledge of certain languages like C++, Java, Python, Perl etc.
What is needed is that the ministry of ICT at a government level must travel to India and strike deals to have Indian programmers come and train students at various training academies in the country.
Software is a great product that is easily exported. This is where the Hon Minister should be setting his eyes as a long-term plan.
There is need to promote establishment of MORE academies that can provide ICT certifications that include but NOT limited to A +, N+, Security +, Linux +, Cisco etc.
Web Presence, Promotion and Optimisation
Designing and placing a website on the Internet is very simple and straightforward. But what matters is whether the website has been designed properly and optimised well so that it is searchable on the Internet. People use search engines to look for information, products and services.
A poorly developed website will affect that website’s visibility on the Internet. Most search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and Dogpile use various algorithms to rank websites.
The key in making our website visible includes search engine optimisation. This involves items like: – using certain key words in your website title and header and also depends on the number and quality of links on your web page, the actual content and relevance of your web pages, registering your website with different search engines.
Linking out to other websites and have them linked back to you is useful in making your website visible on the Internet.
A good website must be able to retain visitors and even encourage future visits. A good website must not only disseminate information to its visitors but must be able to call the visitors to action. Like “click here to subscribe for free reports” or “click here to place a donation“ or “click here to get a call back from us” or “enter your cell phone number here to receive promotional info via SMS” etc.
This makes the website interactive and not static.
Website Standards
Zimbabweans are a very tech-savvy people. You don’t need to look far. Zimbabweans based both in Zimbabwe and outside run fairly successful websites ranging from news and media through money and shipping services right up to digital telephony services.
News websites dominate the number of websites run by Zimbabweans on the Internet. Since Zimbabwe government ministries and departments already have dozens of websites that are hardly searchable on the web, the ICT ministry must come up with a minimum standard guideline for website deployment.
Different ministries and departments do run their different websites, but some minimum quality standard or benchmark MUST be created by the ICT ministry.
If you look at the different Zimbabwe government websites, you will see varying designs which are not up to scratch, if I could be generous with my comments.
What is needed is a compliance standard that is set up by the ICT ministry.
Hats off to the webmasters who have managed to setup theses websites with little or NO training and resources. What needs to be done is to come up with a government website policy that clearly sets standards of design technique, layout, interactivity, promotion and optimisation.
e-Government
In 2005 an ICT Steering committee produced a detailed 124-page e-Readiness report. This report, sponsored by UNDP, covered almost all aspects of e-readiness like: – eAgriculture, eCommerce, eEducation, eMining, eHealth, eGovernance, eGovernment, eManufacturing and eTourism.
The ICT ministry must start by studying the eReadiness survey report (2005) and use it as a springboard to kick-start the digital dream. The report is detailed and thorough but might need to be updated in order to keep abreast with current ICT realities on the ground.
Then the ICT ministry must put together a team/board by pooling together highly skilled, competent and experienced individuals just as the Education Ministry did.
The Hon Education Minister David Coltart is a lawyer by profession and made a smart decision of putting together a board of education experts to execute the technical aspects of the challenges facing education in Zimbabwe.
This approach could be used by all GNU ministers so that the best brains, hands and hearts are pooled together to achieve a common purpose.
I must mention here that I deliberately did NOT discuss previous efforts by the government to censor, control and intercept Internet and voice traffic in the spirit of the inclusive government. Comments, corrections, questions and requests are most welcome. – ZimOnline