Reduce the cost of Internet access and facilitate affordable access for under-served groups like women and school children. Implement sections 74-79 of the Postal and Telecommunications Act with respect to the Universal Access Fund to provide cheaper Internet access for under-served groups. Only 30% of schools in the country have internet access.8 In February 2020, there was a 25% increase in mobile data tariffs and a further 48% increase in May 2020.9 By September 2020, despite increased reliance on technology as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, mobile data charges further went up by up to 190%.10 Online gender-based violence including cyberbullying and harassment is on the rise, further limiting women’s use of the internet. The bullying and harassment online has mostly been targeted at prominent female media personalities11 and politicians.12 Uphold the right to privacy by implementing and enforcing the newly enacted data protection law. Review section 5 of the new Data Protection Act to establish an independent and separate Data Protection Authority and not saddle the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) with additional data protection responsibilities. In 2018, the ruling party sent text messages to millions of Zimbabwean citizens encouraging them to vote for now president Emmerson Mnangagwa. The text messages were addressed to recipients by their full name, voter registration number and constituency, which raised concerns about unrestricted access to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s database of registered voters. There were accusations that the mobile network operators shared this data in disregard of privacy and data protection standards.13 In December 2020, Zimbabwe was listed as one of the customers of ‘Circles’, a surveillance firm that reportedly exploits weaknesses in the global mobile phone system to snoop on calls, texts, and the location of phones around the globe.14 In 2018, Zimbabwe made a commitment to send vast amounts of biometric and personal data to CloudWalk Technology, a China-based entity that was providing the country with facial recognition technology.15