ZiFM Stereo Current Affairs

In this week's episode of The Africa Tech Kin, Danny that Guy discusses the week's technology news stories from Zimbabwe, Africa, and the world. President Mnangagwa commissions the 10-megawatt New Glovers Solar Power Plant in Munyati, Kwekwe, funded 51% by the Public Service Commission's pension fund and forming Phase One of a 110-megawatt project. In the same speech he calls on Zimbabweans in the diaspora to invest in "energy and technology parks." The Ministry of Skills Audit and Development signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Liquid Intelligent Technologies focused on artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and digital analytics skills training.

At a US Embassy panel in Harare held during Culture Month, Zimbabwean musicians, producers, and arts administrators discuss AI-generated music, copyright, and authenticity with Grammy-winning American artist Matt B. Danny discusses the landscape of AI music in Zimbabwe and the world, and the distinction between fully AI-generated music and AI used as a production tool.

Microsoft's AI Economy Institute releases its Global AI Diffusion Report for the first quarter of 2026, showing South Africa leading the continent at 23.1% adoption among working-age people, and the gap between the Global North and Global South widening to 12.1 percentage points. Zimbabwe sits at 8.5%. MTN Group sets out a plan to install GPU hardware at its African cell tower sites to create what it calls a distributed AI inference grid, an argument made by MTN Group CTIO Charles Molapisi. Google I/O 2026 introduces Gemini 3.5 Flash and a redesigned AI Search, with AI Overviews now reaching 2.5 billion monthly users and AI Mode crossing 1 billion. Microsoft orders engineers in its Experiences and Devices division to stop using Anthropic's Claude Code by 30 June 2026 and switch to GitHub Copilot, citing cost. Danny also covers Uber's reported $3.4 billion AI coding budget burn in four months, and Nvidia VP Bryan Catanzaro's remarks on the cost of AI compute now exceeding the cost of employees.

Hosted by Danny that Guy on ZiFM Stereo.

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Todays episode of Backstage with Patience features the talented Fusion 5 Mangwiro, an award winning Zimbabwean Afro Contemporary musical group with a unique bongo flavor sound. The band's strong vocals accompanied by their signature instruments, the djembe and an acoustic guitar, has become iconic in live show performances. Catch #BackStage every Tuesday at 19.30pm only on ZiFM Stereo

This week on The Africa Tech Kin, Danny that Guy covers the launch of the Avantis Parote 1030i, marketed as Zimbabwe's first locally assembled laptop. What does "locally assembled" mean? Also, the unconfirmed retail price, after-sales support, export plans, and the company's intention to list on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange in October 2026.

Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Nick Mangwana's call to increase the withholding tax on international digital platforms, including Netflix, Spotify and Instagram, is unpacked alongside the mechanics of Zimbabwe's existing 15 percent Digital Services Withholding Tax, which has been in force since 1 January 2026, and the question of who actually pays it.

The show goes inside the Zimbabwe Republic Police Forensic Science Laboratory in Harare, following the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence, Home Affairs, Security Services and War Veterans Affairs familiarisation tour. The segment walks through the four main units of the lab: biological evidence, criminalistics, toxicology, and document examination, and covers the historical sexual assault kit backlog, the still-pending Forensic DNA Bill, and the ZRP partnership with the Harare Institute of Technology on cyber forensics.

The artificial intelligence conversation brings together the Royal Observatory in Greenwich's warning that instant AI answers risk eroding human curiosity and reasoning, and POTRAZ's vow at the 2026 International Girls in ICT Day commemorations at the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo that artificial intelligence will not be allowed to weaken humanity. Comments from POTRAZ Director-General Dr Gift Machengete, delivered by Deputy Director-General Mr Alfred Marisa, are covered alongside Zimbabwe's National AI Strategy 2026-2030.

The episode closes on Meta's global rollout of WhatsApp ads, tracking the timeline from the 2018 attempt, through the June 2025 announcement, to the February 2026 global launch. Status Ads, Promoted Channels, and Channel Subscriptions are explained, with analysis of what the change means for Zimbabwean small and medium enterprises and how the Digital Services Withholding Tax applies to ad spend on Meta platforms.

Hosted by Danny that Guy on ZiFM Stereo.

Connect with the show:

WhatsApp: 0772 168 045

Hashtag: #AfricaTechKin

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Minister of ICT Tatenda Mavetera tells government ICT directors to "tear down the walls" of siloed digital systems, announces a proposed Digital Government and Data Act that would make interoperability mandatory across all ministries. The segment explains the new Government Service Bus, the harmonised ICT procurement framework, and updated internet penetration figures.

The Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife publicly attacks the Gold Standard Foundation for delaying CORSIA recognition of Zimbabwean carbon credits, calling it "an open affront to the objectives of CORSIA." The episode includes a full primer on what carbon credits are, Zimbabwe's history with the Kariba REDD+ project and the 2023 scandal, the rebuild under Statutory Instrument 48 of 2025, and the Cicada Carbon Article 6 milestone now at the centre of the dispute.

Quest Motor Manufacturing in Mutare announces plans to begin assembling the BAW Mini Car, Skyworth SUV, and GAC Aion V electric vehicles by August 2026, with a nationwide fast-charging network and a projected 300 to 500 percent increase in employment.

University of Cape Town researchers release MzansiLM, an open-source AI language model trained on all 11 official South African languages, including isiNdebele, Sepedi, and Tshivenda. Zimbabwean researcher Simbarashe Mawere is part of the four-person team.

Apple agrees to a $250 million class-action settlement over delayed Siri AI features. The episode covers Landsheft v. Apple Inc., the eligible iPhone models, the US-only purchase window, and what Zimbabwean buyers need to know about eligibility.

Anthropic signs a deal with SpaceX for full access to the Colossus 1 data centre in Memphis, Tennessee, including over 300 megawatts of compute capacity. The two companies also discuss plans for orbital data centres.

Coverage of the 2026 AI-driven tech layoffs at Amazon, Oracle, Meta, Microsoft, Snap, Coinbase, and Cloudflare. Over 92,000 tech workers laid off in 2026 so far. Discussion of AI-washing claims, labour repricing, and what listeners can do.

Hosted by Danny that Guy on ZiFM Stereo.

Connect with the show:

WhatsApp: 0772 168 045

Hashtag: #AfricaTechKin

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On this episode of Legal Matters Tsitsi Chiyangwa discusses the topic of Public Participation in Politics. She chats with Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights Programmes Projects Lawyer Agnes Muzondo. Join us weekly for all legal debates and discussions every Monday at 19:05pm only on ZiFM Stereo.

This week on Health Matters Sitheni discusses NatPharm and the recent ARV medication discussion. We hear from a Board Chairperson and The Managing Director of the National Pharmaceutical Company (NatPharm) in Zimbabwe. Catch Health Matters every Thursday at 20:30pm only on ZiFM Stereo

This week on Business Unusual Takudzwa speaks to Property Consultant Brian Shenje about the Property Industry in Zimbabwe and new developments taking place. Catch Business Unusual every Thursday at 19:30pm only on ZiFM Stereo

Join Brian Sithole on this weeks episode of #ThePlatform as he discusses Back To School & Teacher Preparation, Grading & Salary increments with the founding President of Educators Union of Zimbabwe (EUZ) Madam Tafadzwa Munodawafachikwangari. For all your weekly social of political news, tune into #ThePlatform every Wednesday from 19:30pm only on ZiFM Stereo

Todays episode of The Gender Agenda with Brian Sithole features a conversation with Team leader of 'For Youths by Youths' Organization Mr Wilbert Jena about Drug and Substance Abuse. Catch #TheGenderAgenda every Wednesday at 19.05pm only on ZiFM Stereo

This week on The Africa Tech Kin, Danny that Guy breaks down the POTRAZ Q4 2025 Abridged Sector Performance Report. Internet and data services now account for 50.75% of mobile network operator revenue in Zimbabwe, the first quarter that data has crossed the halfway mark. Active mobile subscriptions reached 16.78 million, mobile data traffic grew 11.27% to 160.33 petabytes, and WhatsApp alone accounted for one in every five megabytes consumed. Operating costs grew nearly twice as fast as revenue, prompting ICT Minister Tatenda Mavetera to task POTRAZ Director-General Dr. Gift Machengete with cost-based pricing reviews.

The episode then examines the market share data for fixed internet traffic, where Liquid Intelligent Technologies dropped from 58.9% to 48.41% in a single quarter while Starlink Zimbabwe rose from 26.73% to 35.05%. Liquid's actual data traffic fell in absolute terms, suggesting Starlink is capturing existing heavy users rather than only new subscribers.

Danny also covers the Third National Data Privacy Symposium in Bulawayo, where Mavetera revealed Zimbabwe has been nominated by SADC partners to lead regional data protection capacity building. Zimbabwe has now certified 1,070 Data Protection Officers, with 215 added in 2025.

After the break, the show explains TN CyberTech Investments Holdings' plan to tokenise live cattle through TN Livestock Trust and list the tokens on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange, with a 20% annual coupon and the option to redeem for cash or physical livestock. Analysts Kudakwashe Taimo of Fincent Securities and Tafara Mtutu raise concerns about disease, mortality, theft, beef price volatility and regulatory readiness.

The episode then looks at the global movement to restrict children's access to social media. Rwanda's ICT Minister Paula Ingabire announced on 29 April that Rwanda is drafting legislation to ban under-16s from Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. The same day, the European Commission issued preliminary findings against Meta under the Digital Services Act for failing to prevent under-13s from accessing Instagram and Facebook, with potential fines of up to 6% of global annual turnover.

The final story covers the launch of Amazon Supply Chain Services on 4 May 2026, which opens Amazon's freight, distribution, fulfilment and parcel shipping network to outside businesses. UPS and FedEx shares fell on the news.

Hosted by Danny that Guy on ZiFM Stereo.

Connect with the show:

WhatsApp: 0772 168 045

Hashtag: #AfricaTechKin

Subscribe to the ZiFM Stereo Current Affairs podcast for weekly episodes.