CLAIM: ‘The FIRST cyber city in Africa is under construction in Zimbabwe … It’s not a dream, it’s a reality …It’s being implemented…A US$500 million investment.’
SOURCE: Account on X (formerly Twitter)
VERDICT: False
X (formerly Twitter) user, Kudzai Mutisi whose handle is @KMutisi, on 22 March 2024 posted a message accompanied by a video that read: ‘The FIRST Cyber City in Africa is under construction in Zimbabwe… It’s not a dream, it’s a reality… it’s being implemented… A US$500 million investment… This👇🏽 what it will look like once completed. The Mulk Tower will be the tallest building in Africa.’
The claim that Zimbabwe’s cyber city will be the first ever in Africa has also been made before by the state media. The Herald for example, on 30 September 2023 in a story headlined: ‘Construction of villas set to start in Zim Cyber City,’ claimed that: ‘The cyber city will make Zimbabwe the first African country with a smart city…’
Zimbabwe is in the process of constructing a Cyber City in Mount Hampden, just outside Harare, a project developed by Mulk International owned by Dubai-based billionaire, Mr Shaji Ul Mulk. Bitumen World has been awarded the contract for the civil works and the first phase of the project has already started.
The project consists of among other things 250 homes, including 80 luxury villas with green spaces, offices and commercial spaces connected to Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well as a digital transport system. While the whole project will require US$60 billion to complete, Mulk has said he is investing US$500 million into it.
Wordnik, an online English Language Dictionary defines a cyber city as ‘A city with a strong basis in information technology.’ Traced back to the 1990s with the proliferation of the internet, cyber cities, according to https://reference.jrank.org, a digital reference library, leverage modern information technology to better deliver services to their residents.
Ebene Cybercity in the island nation of Mauritius is the second most important business hub after Port Louis, the capital of that country. It is the preferred destination for business and professionals to create wealth and employment through the use of information technologies (ICTs).
According to mauritiusattractions.com, a tourism site, Ebene Cybercity construction began in November 2001, with the suburb being promoted as a new information technology hub for Mauritius and as a link between African and Asian markets.
‘That was the first initiative towards the transformation of Mauritius into a Cyber Island,’ says the tourism site. ‘Within a record time of 18 months, the iconic Cyber Tower One, a building of 44,000 square meters on 12 floors, emerged and the first occupants moved in from 2004.The Cyber tower 1 was voted Intelligent Building 2005 by the Intelligent Community Forum of New York.’ The site adds: ‘This award propelled Mauritius to a higher level of technology-led businesses and Ebene Cyber City rapidly became the reference place for IT Software development and high-end IT enabled services, just to name a few.
Conclusion
The claim: ‘The FIRST cyber city in Africa is under construction in Zimbabwe … It’s not a dream, it’s a reality …It’s being implemented…A US$500 million investment,’ has been rated as false in that Zimbabwe’s cyber city under construction in Mount Hampden is not the first of its kind in Africa. Mauritius, in Southern Africa already has Ebene Cybercity, built in 2001.
