Impact of ICT on service management in the Zimbabwean public sector: a case of Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA)

Abstract

The paper seeks to find out the effectiveness of ICT on the supply side and how infrastructure limitations have a bearing on service delivery in the Zimbabwean public sector. In this paper we focus on ZINARA a parastatal mandated by the government of Zimbabwe to administer among other things, the collection of tollgates fees for the purposes of building new and up grading the existing infrastructure. A qualitative research design in the form of a case study was used to guide this research. Observations and interviews were the research instruments used to collect data from the tollgates under study and from senior executives at ZINARA Head Office in Harare. The study shows that ZINARA’s migration from a manual system to ICT led tolling system, has improved revenue collection but has not eliminated queues at some toll gates under study. We recommend that ZINARA should introduce prepaid tolling for left hand driven trucks and other techno-savvy road users and dedicate a green route for them to avoid delays especially at the tollgates with more than one lane. In addition a swiping system that allows use of debit and credit cards may also be introduced.