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Hon Dr. Tatenda Mavetera, the Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal, and Courier Services has hit the ground running to ensure Zimbabwe is up to speed with technological advancements.
The maverick politician was entrusted to oversee the critical ministry in a Cabinet appointed by President Mnangagwa after the 23 August 2023 harmonised elections.
Driven by the inatiable appetite to acquire knowledge, Dr. Mavetera has a business acumen derived from her being a holder of a Masters Degree in Strategic Marketing and the pursuit of a Doctorate Degree in Business Leadership.
Yesterday, Dr. Mavetera held a meeting with ICT industry stakeholders including her deputy in the ministry, Dr. Dingumuzi Phuti; Permanent Secretary, Dr. Beaullah Chirume; NetOne Group Chief Executive Officer, Engineer Raphael Mushanawani; Dr. Gift Machengeta, the Director-General of the Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ); Engineer Lawrence Nkala, the Managing Director of TelOne; and Econet executives, among others.
She expressed her eagerness to tap from the ICT gurus and experts in order to position the sector as the launchpad for the government’s attainment of an upper-middle-income economy status by 2030.
“Government recognises the importance of stakeholders’ participation to national development in terms of policy advisory, policy formulation and implementation.
“Let me hasten to remind us all of the Ministry’s vision of having a knowledge-based society with ubiquitous connectivity by 2030 and the Ministry Mission to exploit the potential of ICTs for sustainable socio-economic development in Zimbabwe. These we have to pursue and play our part in contributing towards the National Vision 2030,” Dr. Mavetera said.
In an interview with Spiked Online Media after the interview, Engineer Mushanawani said the engagement with Minister Mavetera created room for an environment for knowledge sharing in pursuit of making Zimbabwe a digitally-enabled economy.
“With a Minister who is ready to listen to stakeholders and share her vision openly, the ICT sector in Zimbabwe is poised for greatness. Every leader and expert who attended the engagement meeting was optimistic about a bright future for the ICT sector,” Engineer Mushanawani said
Dr Mavetera said despite challenges faced in the digital era that is saddled with disruptive novel technologies, working together on sharing ideas, knowledge and expertise makes it possible to conquer any setbacks.
“It is a fact that the world is in the midst of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) underpinned by ICTs. Future wars will be fought in the 3 digital cyber space and economic dominance is going to be exhibited in the same virtual digital spaces.
“The disruptive and life changing technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Block Chain, Internet of Things (IoT) Machine Learning (ML) are really today bringing new ways of living, doing business, social interactions, political relations and so on”, Dr. Mavetera added.