Zimbabwe is hosting the sixth edition of the continent’s prestigious Transform Africa Summit (TAS), which kicked off Wednesday in in the resort town of Victoria Falls with over 3,000 local and international guests.
Transform Africa Summit is Africa’s leading annual forum, bringing together global and regional leaders as well as digital experts to collaborate on new ways of shaping, accelerating, and sustaining Africa’s ongoing digital revolution. TAS is running under the theme: “Connect, Innovate and Transform.”
Transform Africa Summit was held for the first time in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2013, and culminated in the adoption of the Smart Africa Manifesto document by seven African Heads of State in which they made a commitment to provide leadership in accelerating socio-economic development through information and communication technology.
According to Lacina Koné, chief executive officer of Smart Africa - the organizer of the event - Transform Africa Summit is recording significant annual growth. He said, “Smart Africa is an alliance of 36 African countries, international organizations and global private sector players tasked with Africa’s digital agenda. Today it has grown to thirty-six member states representing a population of over 1.1 billion people”.
In his opening remarks, Zimbabwe President Emerson Mnangagwa said in the past, Zimbawe depended on Germany for e-passports and today the southern African nation is now producing them locally, a sign that Africa is progressing in ICT.
He also took the opportunity to invite guests to visit Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and the ongoing International Trade Fair in Bulawayo.
He said, “Capacity building through e-commerce remains critical. We showcase our technological capabilities to uplift our people from poverty. Renewable energy remains a sustainable source of power for ICT. In conclusion, I urge you to visit the magnificent Vic Falls and we also have ZITF in Bulawayo. Our people are hospitable and nice. Thank you”
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema told the gathering that there is need for Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe to work together as they used to be one country. The Zambian leader further noted that Africa should fully embrace ICTs.
Hichilema said, “This is a very key summit that drives Africa towards a single digital continent and as Africans, we must set our ambitions at a higher level to develop the continent. We must achieve accelerated economic growth to create employment for the youth. Without big ambitions, we cannot take care of the aspirations of the youth, which is the largest population of our continent.”
Addressing the same meeting, Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera said Africa’s development has for a long time been held back by wars and there is a new scramble for Africa by the West and East as they fight to control strategic minerals. “We have been left behind in development as a continent in areas of agriculture, mining etc and to catch up with the West we have to take ‘short cut’ as a continent. Africa must rise as a continent together and now."
Africa’s absolute monarch King Mswati III also told heads of state and government that there is need to promote unity on the continent. He said,“Africa has to be united in promoting the Africa we want, a united force in terms of trading among ourselves.”
Harare-based independent economic commentator, Masimba Kuchera, however, said there was not much to write home about as Zimbabwe has hosted bigger summits than this but nothing tangible has come out of these events. He said, “The problem with African Leaders is that they talk too much and make promises, but they lack the capacity to act on their word.”
The Zimbabwean government says it came up with an innovation fund in 2018 for funding academic and non-academic citizens interested in innovating prototypes. It says innovation hubs were created at tertiary institutions to support the country’s digital economic agenda. The leaders are expected to sign several Memoranda of Understanding. The summit ends Friday (April 29).
VOA Zimbabwe correspondent Nokuthaba Dlamini contributed to this article.