BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Minister of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Savannah Maziya has committed to work towards addressing bottlenecks faced by Eswatini on matters related to ICT.
Minister Maziya made this promise today (Wednesday, November 13, 2024) at Hilton Garden Inn, Mbabane. This was during the launch of the Eswatini’s Digital Readiness Assessment Report. The report was put together by Eswatini Economic Policy Analysis and Research Centre (ESEPARC), with the help of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Eswatini.
The launch was attended by the minister and other Government from the ICT Ministry. Officials and staff members from ESEPARC and UNDP also attended the event. During the event, there were interactive sessions, which enabled the attendants to voice their opinions about the telecommunications industry in the country.
During the interactive sessions, they were asked what they thought could be the most exciting potential benefit of digital transformation in Eswatini. Many of them thought that economic development could be the most exciting benefit. However, some felt another benefit would be transparency, efficient service delivery, easy access to services, digital government, financial technology (fintech), improved standard of life for Emaswati, among other benefits.
Another question required the participants to state the challenges they faced on daily basis, as they used digital products in Eswatini. The main challenge, according to the participants, was the connectivity. They felt the connectivity was poor. Other challenges included internet quality, security, expensive data, high costs, digital literacy, cyber-crime, digital security, privacy, among other challenges.
The last question was that participants should state what they wished would happen in Eswatini in 2030, as far as digitilisation was concerned. The participants imagined Government in their pockets, where they could access services from their cell phones. They also imagined that all Emaswati would have digital access. Other imaginations included smart cities, digital UNESWA, tax declarations online, online visa, use of artificial intelligence, e-governance, among other improvements.
When the contents of the report were presented during the event, Tengetile Hlophe from ESEPARC stated that most of the concerns voiced by the participants during the interactions were what they found during their research. In response, the minister said they were going to work to address all of the problems and expectations expressed by the participants..
Maziya stated that they would work hard to ensure that by the end of this term, most, if not all of the problems, would be addressed.
