An AI-powered system developed by Harare Institute of Technology spin-off positions HIT’s innovations at the centre of Zimbabwe’s local governance reform agenda.
The President and HIT Chancellor, Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, officially launched the Citizen Engagement and Scoring Platform on Thursday, a digital system developed by LADS Africa, a homegrown technology startup incubated at the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT), in what officials are calling a milestone for both the country’s governance reform agenda and the university’s innovation credentials.
Speaking at the launch ceremony in Harare, the President described the platform as proof that his Administration is walking the talk on participatory governance, telling an audience of Vice Presidents, Cabinet Ministers, mayors, council chief executives and development partners that the initiative would shift governance from “being done for the people” to “being shaped with the people.”
An HIT Innovation at the Heart of National Reform
President Mnangagwa singled out the young innovators behind the system for praise, revealing that he had personally been briefed on the platform’s capabilities, including its embedded Citizen Engagement Scoring Board, a day before the launch.
“I congratulate our young innovators from the Harare Institute of Technology, who developed the platform,” the President said, adding that the large datasets generated through the system’s interview questions would prove useful to the Government for broader policy planning.
LADS Africa, the platform’s developer, is one of HIT’s Innovation Hub success stories. The Institute is increasingly positioning itself as a source of locally built, AI-enabled solutions to public sector challenges under its Education 5.0 mandate, which places heritage-based innovation and industrialisation alongside teaching and research.
AI-Driven Tool to Strengthen Local Authority Accountability
According to the President, the platform leverages artificial intelligence to give every Zimbabwean the opportunity to provide feedback, flag service gaps and evaluate the performance of Local Authorities in real time, from urban centres to rural communities. He said the tool was designed to enhance the social contract between rate payers and council, strengthening convergence between government promises and actual service delivery outcomes.
President Mnangagwa was careful to frame the platform as a developmental instrument rather than a punitive one. “Let me be clear that this platform is not a fault-finding instrument. It is not a courtroom or an enquiry, but an essential professional barometer and analytical tool,” he told public servants in attendance, urging them to treat citizen feedback as guidance rather than attack.
He also cautioned users and policymakers against adopting the AI tool’s recommendations uncritically, noting that sample suggestions generated by the system during his briefing needed to be adapted to Zimbabwe’s local context and heritage-based governance model.
Part of a Wider Local Governance Reform Push
The President situated the new platform within a continuum of reforms, noting it follows the “Call to Action – No Compromise to Service Delivery Blueprint” and the “Minimum Service Delivery Standards” framework, both aimed at translating citizen-centred service delivery into measurable benchmarks ahead of Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 target of attaining upper-middle-income status.
He directed Ministries, Departments, Agencies and Local Authorities to adopt systems capable of generating citizen insights and feedback, describing data as “the fuel of modern and technology-driven economies” that must now guide decision-making and policy implementation across the public sector.
The launch was attended by Vice President Gen. (Rtd.) Dr Constantino Chiwenga, Vice President Col. (Rtd.) Dr Kembo Mohadi, ZANU PF National Chairman and Minister of Defence Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Minister of State for Harare Metropolitan Province Senator Tafadzwa Tawengwa, Minister of Local Government and Public Works Daniel Garwe, mayors and council chairpersons, town clerks and chief executive officers of local authorities, residents’ associations and development partners.
Boost for HIT’s Innovation Hub Pipeline
The presidential endorsement of a platform built by an HIT Innovation Hub graduate company comes as the university intensifies efforts to commercialise homegrown technology solutions and position itself, in line with its self-styled identity, as Zimbabwe’s Innovation and Technopreneurial University. LADS Africa’s role in delivering a flagship national e-governance tool is expected to further raise the institution’s profile as it prepares to showcase additional innovations at the HIT Technovation Expo, scheduled for 28–30 July.
Closing his remarks, President Mnangagwa described the Citizen Engagement and Scoring Platform as a symbol of the Government’s collective resolve to build a responsive, inclusive and knowledge-driven society, before formally declaring it launched.
