Harare – Zimbabwe’s Minister of Information, Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services, MP for Chikomba West, has outlined plans for a decentralised approach to the country’s digital infrastructure. Speaking at the Pre-Budget Conference yesterday, the former Studio 263 actress stressed the need for both local and international investment in technology while maintaining national control over data.
The minister said the government is prioritising the development of Technology Parks across all provinces as the foundation for a resilient digital economy. “The strategic prioritisation of a national ICT Park ecosystem is the foundational path to sustainable, sovereign growth,” the minister said, noting that digital centres and innovation hubs at universities and colleges are already being expanded to support this decentralised system.
While acknowledging the appeal of a Google data centre, the minister said the focus must first be on building the country’s own infrastructure. “A data centre responds to demand, it does not create it. We must drive digitalisation through digital payments, process automation, and e-governance to generate the traffic that will make such a centre viable,” the minister explained.
Plans include upgrading the national backbone with optical fibre along power transmission lines, such as Powertel’s network from Insukamini to Johannesburg, to improve connectivity and peer efficiently with global tech companies. The minister also mentioned incorporating edge computing strategies to process data closer to the source, in line with cybersecurity and data protection requirements.
Public-private partnerships are central to the plan, the minister said, as they reduce the financial burden on government while fostering foreign, continental, and domestic investment. The ICT Park strategy is designed to incubate start-ups, support innovation, and enable local patent ownership, ensuring Zimbabwe maintains control over its digital ecosystem.
“The ICT Park is the very incubator that would make a future hyperscale data centre successful. By building adequate infrastructure first, we position ourselves with strength, avoiding dominance and monopoly, and maintaining control over data security and economic growth,” the minister said.
The minister confirmed ongoing efforts to mobilise investment across all ten provinces, insisting that Zimbabwe can host global tech giants on terms that benefit the country. “This approach doesn’t close the door to Google; it ensures that when they walk through it, it is on terms that quantifiably benefit Zimbabwe, fostering industry growth we will all be proud of,” the minister said.
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