The IT industry in Africa is growing, attracting foreign investment and attention, and the use of the Internet is fast becoming a phenomenon.
It is highly disturbing that the government of Zimbabwe is lagging behind in embracing the use of the Internet in all facets of information management and service provision.
Most governments have official government websites where they share and convey policy issues and engage the general populace in governance issues.
I visited Zimbabwe Government Online, which is listed as the official Zimbabwe government website. It takes decades to load, and has the worst design of all the 100 government websites I visited.
While the homepage offers links to some ministries, there isn't much. Most ministries' home pages contain the same mission statements that were coined in 1980, which means you just have to visit the sites once.
A click on the link to the Ministry of Information & Publicity is the most disappointing because the ministry does not have a website. God forbid! This is the ministry that is responsible for churning out government propaganda and the so-called reliable information.
The websites for the ministries of Higher Education, Industry & International Trade, Public Service and Labor do not exist despite the links listed. Where would an interested investor find information about investing in Zimbabwe?
I would have expected the Ministry of Anti-Corruption to have a website where people can post tip-offs. Other countries publish bids for government purchasing contracts on the Web, this way they are accessible to all, not only government supporters who read the The Herald or The Chronicle. This helps fight corruption.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is not even listed, yet this is where applicants for birth certificates could check to see exactly where their case is being handled in the government approval process.
While some ministries do have websites, for instance the Ministry of Finance has a site where one can download the latest fiscal policy, it is highly underdeveloped. The rest are just home pages - never updated and designed using just basic HTML.
Just across the border, the South African, Botswana and Zambian governments have some of the highly developed government websites. Ranging from the president's office to the tiniest department, all have sites with detailed information about government services.
If you visit Acts Online, you can locate the full text of current South African legislation which includes amendments, schedules and regulations, and is updated whenever an amendment is promulgated in the Government Gazette. One can receive notification by email of any updates, amendments and additions to the legislation.
From what I see, there is every reason to believe that the opposition MDC will have an intact IT policy judging from their immediate embrace of the Internet. It has four official sites – www.mdczw.org, www.mdczimbabwe.org, www.mdcuk.org and www.mdcregional.co.za.
The websites are fully developed; for instance www.mdcregional.co.za uses some of the latest flash technology and is updated timeously. In South Africa, all political parties - from the Democratic Alliance to Inkatha Freedom Party - have websites, with the ANC having the most developed. You might have guessed right when it comes to Zanu PF - the url www.zanupfpub.com takes you to a human rights protest site.
Even Zimbabwean embassies doted all over the world do not have websites where visitors can find information on the required travel documents, assistance and other information.
The website Zimbabwean Embassy, Ottawa - supposedly meant to be Zimbabwean Embassy website in Canada - takes you to a home page where the national anthem plays in the background. Beyond that, there’s nothing - if you try to enter the site, you will be surprised to find raw basic HTML language.
No good news for the embassy based in the information technology hub of the United States of America. It does not have a website, and neither do our missions in Australia, China, Libya or anywhere else in the world. In sharp contrast, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Tanzania, Namibia, Angola and Zambia consulates have embraced the use of the Internet to share information and offer assistance to their citizens and visitors.
Most governments turn to Internet-based services as a way to cut red tape; the Web is a means of advancing and consolidating transparency and democracy into the overall practice of public administration.
The Internet is arguably the most powerful medium for the sharing and distribution of ideas man has ever known. Most Zimbabweans, like other nations with oppressive governments, have looked to the Web as a way to disseminate their anti-government views not only to fellow residents, but also to the rest of the world.
Online news websites like www.newzimbabwe.com have filled the void that exists after the banning of critical newspapers by the Zimbabwe government.
Africa is very far behind the rest of the world in Internet use, and it seems that the gap will only get bigger unless something is done. Our government in Zimbabwe is just not committed. The president has been around the country a few times donating computers to various schools. If that is not a publicity stunt, then it is good.
However, it is not enough. The government must go the extra mile to effectively use the Internet to engage with its citizens dotted all over the world, to face the world and embrace the Web to improve Zimbabweans' life standards by spreading awareness about current affairs and policy direction.
This article reproduced by courtesy of New Zimbabwe.com
