The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) is on a drive to educate children on safe access to the internet saying even minors have the right to enjoy and explore what the digital world offers.
In an interview with 263Chat on the sidelines of the campaign roadshow at Hama Growth Point, Chirumhanzi, the group Economist, Talent Munyaradzi said they are committed to protecting children from cyber bullying, black mailing among other online vices.
“We are looking at children’s safety when accessing Internet.
“Internet is now becoming a basic thing for all age groups but there is also a bad side which Internet users may not know which we think as a regulator we need to educate people on.
“One of them is the issue of cyber bullying, cyber-crime, black mailing and many more but we think those things may be avoided if people get to know that whenever they put their things on internet, they are there forever.
“So to the young ones l think it’s advisable that they must not engage in those things because there are some repercussions of posting unnecessary things on Internet,” he said.
Munyaradzi added that they are educating internet users on their rights, complaints handling procedures and also gathering complaints from users in different areas.
“For this whole week we were covering Midlands in places like Mvuma, Zvishavane, Chivi and the mega one was done at Hama shopping center in Chirumhanzu.
“The theme is still the same whereby we are advocating for telecommunications users to know their rights.
“In terms of acts, Section 4 of the postal and telecommunications Act highlights one of the issues like protecting the interests of consumers in terms of quality and variety in terms of services that they are getting
“So we are trying to accomplish what that section says in terms of the provisions.
“We are educating users about their rights, complaints handling procedures and also it’s also one of the platforms to gather some complaints from users in different areas,” added Munyaradzi.
POTRAZ also revealed that network unavailability had emerged as the biggest problem from their various roadshows held across the country.
