Zimbabwe launches AI strategy; Mozambique unveils digital agency

African nations Mozambique and Zimbabwe have been ramping up their digital transformation efforts. Mozambique has announced the establishment of an agency to spearhead its digital transformation plan, while Zimbabwe has launched a national artificial intelligence (AI) strategy.

Zimbabwe strengthens role in global AI landscape

On March 13, President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa announced the official launch of Zimbabwe‘s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy for 2026 – 2030, representing a major milestone in the African nation’s digital transformation agenda, Tech Africa News reported. The strategy ensures that all Zimbabweans can benefit from AI, in line with the country’s commitment to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

The National AI strategy aims to integrate AI across sectors such as agriculture, efficiency, and service delivery. In addition, the strategy proposes incentives to encourage business owners and innovators to adopt AI solutions.

The key focus of the AI strategy plan is to develop ethical, human-centered AI systems that respect fundamental rights and to strengthen laws and regulatory frameworks to secure citizens, President Mnangagwa highlighted.

The National AI Strategy was approved in October 2025, described as the government’s “direct response to the need to properly harness the economic benefits and disruptive effects of AI in the era of emerging technologies.” Its aim is not only to capitalize on AI’s transformative potential but also to ensure that Zimbabwe transitions from a resource-based to a knowledge-driven economy.

Mozambique builds a dedicated national agency for digitalization

“The creation of ATDI will accelerate the digitization of public services, including the creation of a Citizen Portal that will bring together various state services on a single platform,” Government Spokesperson and Minister of State Administration, Inocêncio Impissa, told reporters after a meeting of the Council of Ministers (cabinet).

“The state institution will be unified, in the sense that when citizens need public services, they will no longer need to go, for example, to the INATRO [National Institute of Road Transport] or the National Immigration Service,” he added.

In addition, the Mozambique government will be concentrating the main public services in a single data space, the Citizen portal, Impissa said.

“The citizen will only go to a specific point called, for example, the Citizen Portal; all the information is there. Currently, each sector or department of the ministries has its own computer systems and databases, which operate in isolation from other sectors of the public administration,” he explained.

“It will aggregate all the databases that exist in the public administration and will organize them in more suitable locations. We will have a single database.”

Besides ATDI, the Council of Ministers has approved other agencies to support the country’s digitalization plans. These include the National Commission for Artificial Intelligence and the Multisectoral Technical Commission for Coordination and Implementation of Digital Transformation.

“The National Commission for Artificial Intelligence is a consultative and technical advisory body to the government on scientific matters, technological development, innovation, and information security in relation to artificial intelligence,” Impissa remarked.

The government is also looking at its banking partnerships and innovation, including its partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In a Sharing Session of Project Proposals under the Italian Digital Flagship for Africa (IDF4A) initiative last year, the UNDP and the Ministry of Communications and Digital Transformation (MCTD) brought together seven pillars to develop Mozambique’s digital transformation and government modernization plans.

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