 Welcome to WTDC 17 here in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We're very pleased to be joined in the studio today by the Honourable Super Collins Mandi Wanzira, who is Minister of ICT Postal and Courier Services for Zimbabwe. Minister, thank you for joining us in the studio today. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Now, I'd like to talk to you a little bit about the way that your country has been integrating ICTs in its development agenda. The theme here is ICTs for SDGs. Tell us a little bit about your perspective. Well, I think that you're very right that the theme for this conference really focuses on the development goals. And in Zimbabwe, I think we have taken the whole development of the ICT in tandem with the social development goals as well. We are running the implementation of a program to turn around our fortunes as a country which we call ZIM asset. Zimbabwe are gender for sustainable socio-economic transformation. And a very key component of that program is the investment in infrastructure. And the manly infrastructure that the government is focusing on is ICTs infrastructure. Because it is the backbone for success in agriculture, for success in mining, for success in education. So a key component, a key player in the whole agenda for sustainable economic transformation for Zimbabwe is the ICT sector, the ICT ministry. We have to put infrastructure in terms of fiber backbone. We have to put infrastructure in terms of mobile towers so we can roll out communications to all our people. And we have to put computers in schools in order for us to be able to get our education system and have access that is broadened to all the rural areas and the urban centers. So I think if you look at the SDGs given the focus on education, we are trying to address that through the ICTs. If you look at it in terms of health, we are also addressing it through the ICTs because part of the initiative in terms of rolling out the fiber network is to make sure that we reach out to district hospitals. We enable telemedicine. If you look at sustainable development in terms of food security, we are assisting agriculture by particularly making sure that the communities that are in the farming areas have access to information, have access to the markets. They can ensure some of their crops using platforms on mobile phones, things like that. So we have really taken into consideration the SDGs in the expansion of our ICTs infrastructure. What challenges and hurdles do you think you will be facing to implement these and how do you see ICTs really improving the life of people in Zimbabwe? I think that the biggest hurdle is actually that of resources. I mean the rollout of infrastructure across the country requires huge capital investment and most of the money has to come from government, especially when you are investing in areas that are not considered commercially viable by the network operators whose main objective is to make a profit. The other challenge obviously is the concern that when we have invested in this infrastructure, there is not much opportunity to recover the investment because we are getting a lot of new services that are riding on the infrastructure, but no benefit or no return to that one who has invested in infrastructure. And I mean here the OTTs over the top services. Government invests significantly in building infrastructures and making sure that there is connectivity in schools and making sure that all the corners of the country have access to broadband. But who comes in and makes much of the benefit? It is Google, it is Facebook, you know, and they sell to their advertisers the people that are in Zimbabwe. Is there any tax that is paid to the government of Zimbabwe? No, there is no tax. Is there any return? No, there is no return. How do we then make sure that we recover some of that investment? I mean we have had this challenge even with the private investors, the mobile network operators have actually approached government and said we are actually losing a lot of money as a result over the top services. Can government help us deal with this kind of problem because we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars. We no longer drive enough voice traffic to have a return because the traffic has gone to Skype, has gone to WhatsApp, and you need to help us. So I think that that is part of the challenge. And part of the challenge also is that the majority of the infrastructure is not produced in Africa. We have to import this from Asia, from China, from Japan or from North America, Canada, USA or from Europe. Much of the infrastructure that is required in order to enhance and expand access, broadband access, even computers are not produced in Africa, which means we have to spend a lot of resources importing this. In fact, we need to find a solution where we can begin to use internal resources to manufacture or to assemble these things locally. If you actually look at it ultimately, the raw material for manufacturing of most of those things are actually coming from Africa. And I think we need to change that narrative where we begin to have the investment in Africa to beneficiate the mineral so we can make steel that we use to build towers so we can get the minerals that we are using. We're taking out of the country to go to China, to go to Japan so that they can make chips that are actually produced in Africa. And generate the capacity for manufacturing? Absolutely, generate the capacity for manufacturing. More importantly, generate employment locally. What we are doing by exporting raw materials is we are exporting jobs and we need to find a solution where we begin to say, hey, come and manufacture locally and let's transfer the skills to the local people. And what policies and regulatory reforms do you think are needed to connect the next billion, especially in remote and rural areas? I think one of the most important things is to accept that we are at different levels of development globally. And Africa is still lagging behind and obviously there is need to invest more resources so money must be available and must be available at concessional rates for African governments, African companies to be able to invest in those areas. One of the key drivers of accessibility are devices. We can as government invest in mobile towers using the Universal Services Fund, which is a USF fund meant to provide infrastructure in areas where the private operators don't consider commercially viable. You can invest in infrastructure there, but if people don't have devices in order to access the broadband, in order to access the mobile networks, you have pretty much sunk money in a hole. So I think we need a concerted effort to ensure that devices are available and not just your ordinary devices, but smart devices which allow people to access the internet to use then the broadband that we are investing in. So I think we generally need a policy that is pro the importation and also pro investment in the production of smart devices so that these can go to the majority of our people. I think we need to invest significantly in education. We are privileged that in Zimbabwe we are the leading literate country. In fact, in terms of literacy, we are number one on the African continent and that's not according to us, but according to the United Nations, which means the uptake of technology, the uptake of new things by our people is much higher. But if you look at the whole continent, I think we need to educate, invest significantly in education so that our people can begin to access some of these technologies and know how to use these technologies. So from a policy perspective, I think a lot needs to be done. If we look at what the biggest producers of devices and where they're selling these devices to, I think at a forum like this, we need to appeal to the big manufacturers to say let's be able to produce devices that are affordable by some of our poorest communities because I think that if you consider that you buy a brand new smartphone, whether it's an Apple, you have to spend upwards of a thousand US dollars. That's about an annual income of somebody in Africa and they will not be able to afford that kind of phone. Do we have devices that are equally as good but affordable to the communities and I think we need to appeal to the global manufacturing community that we still have a huge market where the profits may not be as high but the need is high. Now you obviously spent some budget getting here a long way from home. Absolutely. What is your goal here? What do you hope will be achieved by this conference and what would you hope to see some of the concrete steps coming from here? Well I think a lot of things, the wish list is very long, but I think it's important that some of the areas that I've spoken about are given attention. Particularly if we focus on the development and investment in Africa on issues related to infrastructure, the components, the equipment that is used in order to broaden ICT's access that it is produced in Africa, that we utilize African resources to produce and to be able to create employment if we can drive focus towards that. But I think also the big buzzword in terms of ICT's development in Africa is cybersecurity. But it's not just in Africa, it's across the globe. You look at what's happening in Europe, you look at what's happening in North America, in the Middle East, when it comes to the use of social media and things like that, it's a major concern from a security point of view. So I think that the conference must come up with a position on cybersecurity. How do we deal with the issues of cybersecurity? How do we have a coordinated approach so that each individual country is not just acting unilaterally? And there's always a danger of overdoing or underdoing. And unfortunately when you come from Africa and when those who are in the western world look at us, especially when we begin to put in systems that control or protect our territory, security, the integrity and sovereignty of our nations, we stand the risk. There's a chance of always being accused of overreacting and being despotic and things like that. So I think a forum like this should come up with a coordinated approach. And the issue of content, I think it's very important that is African governments were investing hugely in infrastructure. We cannot continue to have then Microsoft come and offer its platforms and we have to pay for those platforms. There's no investment in the development of local capacity in content. I think we need to sort of come up with a position here that says how do we assist each other and how do we promote content development in order that we don't just pay Silicon Valley or we pay Bangalore in India. We are also developing employment and capacity within our own communities, within our own countries so that our people are able to develop softwares, applications that we can actually use. I could go on and on, but we believe that some of these issues do need attention in this forum. Well, Mr. Super Collins, Monday 1-0. Genuine thanks for being with us in the studio. There's some fascinating insights there and we very much look forward to catching up with you again sometime in the future. Well, really appreciate it and I want to thank you very much for inviting me to the interview. Thank you.