“internet governance dialogue must be inclusive of
all the relevant stakeholders and the government
ministries.”

a multi-stakeholder, an approach which
will see each stakeholder contributing
to remove the various barriers which
still make it hard for Zimbabweans to
connect to the Internet.
Other barriers to Internet access were
discussed by Facebook’s Emilar VusheGhandi during her panel discussion
summarised below. Government has
also rolled out a number of community
based ICT centres in various parts of
the country; however, it is necessary
to train community members on how
to use computers to ensure that these
community centres are fully utilised.
The Deputy Minister also gave an
update on the three “CyberBills” which
the Zimbabwean government has
been working on since 2013 as part of
the Harmonisation of ICT Policies in
Sub-Saharan Africa (HIPSSA) initiative.
The three draft Bills are the Cyber Crime
and Cyber Security Bill, the Electronic
Transactions and Electronic Commerce

Bill, and the Data Protection Bill.
According to the Deputy Minister, the
draft Cyber Crimes and Cybersecurity
Bill is before the Attorney-General’s
Office, while the two other draft Bills
are before the Cabinet Committee on
Legislation.12 These are preparatory
stages the draft Bills have to pass
through as they are prepared for
presentation for debate in the National
Assembly. The same sentiments were
expressed by President R. G. Mugabe in
his speech at the opening of the current
session of Parliament in September
2017.13 He called for the three draft
“Cyber Bills” to be brought before
this session of Parliament for debate.
In his closing remarks, the Deputy
Minister stressed the point that internet
governance dialogue must be inclusive
of all the relevant stakeholders and the
government ministries.

12 The Cabinet Committee on Legislation is a committee which considers proposals for legislation put forward by
government Ministries, and draft legislation prepared by the Attorney-General’s Office to give effect to Ministries’ proposals.
The Committee is chaired by the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and consists of various Ministers
appointed to the Committee by the President, as well as the Attorney-General and the Secretary for Justice.
13 http://www.parlzim.gov.zw/component/k2/president-s-speech-at-the-official-opening-of-the-5th-session-of-the-8thparliament

12

Misa Zimbabwe Second Internet Governance Multi
Stakeholder Conference 21 September 2017

Select target paragraph3