Ezekiel Nyoni

Author: Ezekiel Nyoni

Africa has been regarded as the least technologically advanced continent in the world. Amid being the motherland of a vast number of natural resources and innovations too, the use of technology in African society is dismal so to say.  Whether it is in the social context (which I think there is a major development) to the economic context or even within the scientific field itself the adoption of modern technology innovations is way too slow. A number of reasons like cultural values and lack of access to resources have been used to justify the resistance to the use of some of these modern day tech innovations.

Some may argue that most of these tech innovations do not apply to the so called “ African problems”; which in my own opinion it is an inaccurate assessment. There are a number of innovations that have been developed from the African context, yet they have not been adopted in the African community. The first one that come into mind is Lyft an American developed rideshare transport mobile application almost similar to the much popular Uber. In varsity student terms Lyft is just an app for carpooling. The co-founder of Lyft, Logan Green came up with idea after visiting Zimbabwe in 2005 and saw people sharing their cars to and from work which in Zimbabwean terms we call it hiking. Here is an app that could have been utilized within Zimbabwean context but yet it was never adopted and yet is much popular in other continents. Still in solving African transport problems through technology, down here in Mzansi the Rapid Bus Transit system commonly known as Rea Vaya by Joburgers is still underutilized. Here is a transport system that is safe, conducive and cheaper too helping you save on that fuel bill. But yet Africans we still want to drive because public transport is regarded as for the less successful. And blame the authorities for the congestion when there is a tech which if accepted and developed further one will get to campus intime for that early 8am lecture. In Harare, Zimbabwe they did a trial run of the BRT system in 2014 but due to lack of public acceptance the trial run failed.

Kenya has been developing into the silicon valley of Africa. M-Farmer a mobile application developed in Kenya has helped many small scale farmers to improve their production through advice on the weather forecast, financial management, planting season for specific crops among other things. There a number of these farming apps and with most of African countries relying on small-scale holder farmers if these apps are utilized more food will be produced thus hampering down food security and in the process boosting the economy of African countries. Most Zimbabweans will agree with me that this app will be beneficial as most small scale farmers still rely on traditional seasonal planting which have seen some their crops drying out before harvest because of global weather changes.

Mobile phone-based money transfer services are an innovation which came out of Africa. To most Zimbabweans its an Econet’s innovation through their Ecocash mobile money platform. However, the innovation started in Kenya through M-Pesa. When the Econet introduced the service in Zimbabwe in 2011 it was received with mixed feelings with some thinking that were going to be conned.  However as the Shona people say Kuyeuka bako mvura yanaya which literally means recognizing the usefulness of something when its already too late – fast forward to 2016 every household in Zimbabwe uses Ecocash almost everyday because of the cash crisis. The question becomes how did the financial systems missed this out and or even ordinary citizens only to accept the technology when a crisis struck. Now being innovators Econet has introduced Ecocash Mukando a tech based service of the Stokvelas as they are known in South Africa and Mukando in Zimbabwe solving another African Problem.

Whats App on its own is a tech that can be used as a discussion forum for many platforms. As students Whats App can be used for study groups exchange of different study material- which I have to admit its still rare because of competition between students. Yes some may argue that the problem in Africa is governance but the acceptance for the use of technology starts with the ordinary citizens then legislature and governance will follow. In my own opinion resistance in the use of tech in Africa is just a matter of the unwillingness to learn and explore in simple terms ignorance.

This article was published in the University of Johannesburg UJZimSoc Magazine pilot issue http://joom.ag/R08Q