By Tendai Chisiri
VICTORIA FALLS – Zimbabwe’s Minister of ICT, Postal and Courier Services, Hon. Tatenda Mavetera, has urged African countries to unite behind a common digital agenda that prioritizes universal access, affordability, skills, local content and digital sovereignty.
Opening the 2026 ITU Regional Development Forum for Africa at Cresta Sprayview Hotel in Victoria Falls on Monday, Mavetera said over 800 million people in Africa remain offline despite the continent having the world’s fastest-growing youth population.
“Over 800 million people in Africa remain offline. Our youth population is the fastest-growing on earth, yet too many are locked out of the global digital economy,” she said.
Quoting former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Zimbabwean entrepreneur Strive Masiyiwa, she said connectivity must be treated as a fundamental human right, not a luxury. “If half of Africa cannot access a digital classroom, a telemedicine service, or a mobile market, we are not building a future—we are building a bigger gap,” she said.
Mavetera set out five pillars for Africa’s digital future: universal access to the last mile, affordable data, digital skills, locally relevant content in African languages, and digital sovereignty over data, infrastructure and rules.
She showcased Zimbabwe’s own initiatives as a “living blueprint” for the continent, including the Presidential Internet Scheme connecting 8,000 rural schools via satellite, plans to mobilize $200 million for a national communications satellite, and the launch of the Zimbabwe National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2026-2030 with an AI Acceleration Centre.
The Minister also highlighted POTRAZ’s leadership in data protection and cyber-trust, noting its SADC-mandated role in building regional capacity, and the AI for Good Sandbox launched with the ITU in December 2025 to give local startups and academics access to high-performance computing.
Mavetera urged delegates to focus on actionable outcomes aligned to the 2026-2029 Regional Roadmap, recommending regulatory harmonization to cut cross-border costs, upgrading universal service funds into venture-partnership vehicles, implementing the SADC data protection model, and creating shared high-performance computing federations for AI research.
She also called for support for ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau Director Dr. Cosmas Zavazava’s re-election, describing him as “a son of Zimbabwe, but a devoted servant of the entire developing world.”
The forum, running 25-26 May 2026, brings together ICT ministers, regulators, operators and development partners to align regional priorities with the Baku Action Plan and mobilize resources through the ITU’s Partner2Connect Digital Coalition, which has secured over $82 billion in pledges as of March 2026.
“Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today,” Mavetera said. “Let them inherit a digital Africa that is universally connected, meaningfully engaged, and truly sovereign.”
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