Digital inequality in Africa’s ethnic minorities: a case study of Zimbabwe’s Shangaan and Tonga marginalised communities

The appropriation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is accelerating in most parts of the Global South with leading policymakers calling for digital affordances to be made a right rather than a want. Writing on this, Datta intimated that the digital revolution is a key moment that is “shaping current state policies and practices of planning and governance in the global south”. These policies are in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Among leading experts, there is a general agreement that ICTs can help to build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. This is why, as UNDP rightly notes, “since 2015, countries have harnessed digital technology to accelerate progress towards achieving of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030”. However, even with these utopian promises, pervasive challenges persist as growth in digital usage is sitting side by side with the pervasive digital inequality, especially groups in the margins. This study looks at two minority groups of Zimbabwe: the Shangaan/Tsonga tribe and the Tonga tribe. Critically, this study sought to understand the state of digitisation among Zimbabwe’s ethnic minorities, groups often marginalised when it comes to national developments.