An IFIP SOCIETY in AFRICA

The Computer Society of Zimbabwe

A Historical review
by G R Fairall

The Computer society of Zimbabwe was formed at a critical time in the history of Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia) and indeed the start and early growth of computing in this country coincided with the final stages of the transition to national independence. The following milestone dates help to put this into perspective.

1960 The first Computer in Central Africa is installed at the Southern Rhodesia Government treasury
1964 The first computer users conference is held at Victoria Falls
1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence followed by international trade embargo
1966 The start of 14 years of civil strife
1974 The Computer Society of Rhodesia is formed with 150 members
1979 Name changed to Computer Society of Zimbabwe Rhodesia
1980 Zimbabwe becomes independent nation - international trade resumes and the Society name changes again
1987 CSZ is admitted to IFIP as full member
1991 IFIP general assembly is held in Harare

At the time of its formation, the Society's constitution was modeled on those of other national societies with apparently similar aims, such as the British Computer Society and the Computer Society of South Africa. Members were drawn from commerce, industry, government and university with a wide variety of computer-related occupations such as programmers, engineers, scientists and installation managers.

This broadly based membership structure has continued with the advantage of promoting close communications between the various skill-areas in the information processing industry but with disadvantages when attempting to meet the professional and educational needs of so many disparate groups.

The objective of forming the Society was to benefit the Computer Industry and all people working in it. The aims were broadly to educate the general public, to bring people using computers together, to set standards and to promote the use of computers in scientific and commercial environments.

During the seventies, computer users were restricted to a small number of mainframes, minicomputers and service bureaux, and with international trade sanctions in force, most of the imports were second-hand machines from dubious sources. The positive side to this was that users became extremely efficient in order to squeeze out every ounce of computing power, and very self-supportive. At this time the Society held annual "DATACOM" seminars aimed at improving the understanding of the public at large and also pioneered the introduction of Computer education at the technical colleges. International contact was very limited apart from with South Africa from where speakers were occasionally sourced.

National independence in 1980 coincided with the first invasion of the microcomputer as well as a host of new supplying companies and presented completely new challenges to the industry and CSZ. New external connections were needed as South Africa was now viewed in a different light and contact was resumed with societies in the other neighboring countries like Zambia and Malawi. Annual DATACOM's continued but as these were aimed at the corporate users, a new annual event focusing on microcomputers and personal computing was launched called MICROCOM. Interestingly whilst the DATACOM event has fallen away, MICROCOM continues each year in the country's second city Bulawayo.

In 1984 the first annual Summer School was held aimed at giving members a chance to update on various computer topics and spend time with each other at this residential event held far from the city lights. Since then this has become an extremely popular event, attended not only by members but also by members of societies in neighbouring countries. CSZ accelerated its educational drive with more workshops and seminars, and introduced an accreditation of training and education providers as a public protection mechanism. The promotion of quality education was and is seen as a critical ingredient for development and capacity building. Likewise the professional standing of CSZ members received much attention with admission standards being strengthened and the introduction of codes of ethics and conduct.

Selecting appropriate technology for a third world country without sacrificing progress was another challenge. Short-term options like hand-me-down ,,gifts" from the outside world were useful during the seventies but had no place in a truly developing country where ongoing support is as important as the product itself. The CSZ saw its role of providing up to date information as vital and set about forging links with the outside world in order to facilitate a broadening of its own knowledge. This led indirectly to contact with IFIP in 1986 and membership in 1987, although the actual reason for coming together at that time stemmed from a common desire of CSZ and IFIP to see a regional confederation of African societies. This was in fact achieved and ARCC, as it was known, was also admitted to IFIP in 1991 but collapsed shortly afterwards.

The first IFIP ,,experience" was the organizing of AFRICOM'87 with TC 6 who also held their meeting at Victoria Falls in the same room as the 1964 first user meeting - the die was indeed cast, and several IFIP activities have taken place in Zimbabwe since, including the GA in 1991. Education and professional standards have continued to dominate the Society agenda with such projects as the definition of an industry skills model and Continuing Professional Development. The introduction of computers into schools during the latter half of the nineteen-eighties gave CSZ more scope to provide assistance and support, and it has strengthened its ties with TC 3 in order to tap experiences elsewhere.

More recently the advent of the internet and various e-mail services has had a profound and positive effect on the workings of the Society and will no doubt be a major tool for development as the user net inside Zimbabwe is expanded.

In conjunction with ICCC and TC 6, CSZ will again host AFRICOM in 1996 with the theme ,,The Information Highway for Developing Countries" and in 1997 will host a working conference with TC 3 working groups also in Harare.

The Computer Society of Zimbabwe now enjoys recognition by both government and the private sector as an authority in the country's information technology industry. Still a relatively small society with just over a thousand members, but with excellent international connections, it believes it has a significant role to play in the continued advancement of IT as a component of national development.