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Christopher Farai Charamba Political Writer
The last six weeks have been a historic time for Zimbabwe. The recently ended Operation Restore Legacy saw the end of President Mugabe’s long rule in Zanu-PF and over the nation.

Building up to November 21, 2017, when President Mugabe tendered his resignation, were a series of events that many are familiar with and even participated in. During the operation, in fact for weeks, months and years before, society was rife with speculation on Zanu-PF factionalism and a host of other activities in the political realm.

Daily, WhatsApp groups were awash with whatever rumourmongers decided was ripe to make the rounds. Many claimed to be insiders. They made videos announcing what would happen next. Sometimes their guesses were correct and this helped their audience grow.

Often times they missed the mark, but their version of events was plausible so those hungry for updates gobbled it all up. Journalists were turned to for accurate information. Some gained notoriety by breaking whatever “news” they could imagine particularly on social media.

They too, however, fell victim to the circulating rumours and in the haste to break the latest scoop before the competition, they shared unverified and false information. A contributing factor to the lies and misinformation was the lack of official updates from the Government, the army and any of the other players involved.

When information did come, specifically in the form of written Press statements, many, particularly on social media, had to double check it with others as such documents were often without a letterhead and fortunate if they were signed.

The communication deficiencies over the last few years and particularly in the last few weeks are evidence that the Zimbabwean Government needs a facelift. Operation Restore Legacy saw several changes to personnel and the structure of the Government.

A new Head of State and Government and a smaller Cabinet being such examples. To accompany that, the Government must now work on its image. There are certain tweaks that the Government can undertake that will greatly improve how it looks but also how it works.

This is the perfect time for Government as an institution to introspect and see what it can do to improve the quality of its service and do so efficiently. Here are a few suggestions which one thinks will go a long way in aiding Government carry out its tasks, but also instil some level of confidence from the people, in the Government.

The first important task is rebranding. Government needs to harmonise its structures and create uniformity in look. Over the past few years, the number of ministries has varied and portfolios have been shuffled around.

This leads to confusion and such uncertainty is not good for business or confidence levels. It is therefore imperative that Government portfolios remain consistent and the various agencies and bodies working under them are clear and accessible.

This bring us to the second item on the list, Government must be easily accessible. Information on the Government and its agencies should be readily available. In the 21st Century, the age of the Internet, this means that a quick Google search should reveal all the basic information about the Government and how to get in touch with its agencies and employees.

Unfortunately, this is currently not the case. The Zimbabwean Government’s online presence is poor. Each ministry seems to run its own website while others don’t have any. A number of the websites haven’t been updated in years and therefore the information is outdated.

This is abysmal considering that we have a ministry dedicated to ICT. The Government should harmonise its online presence. We talk of a one-stop-shop for ease of doing business, there should be a one-stop-shop for the Government online which then filters to the various ministries and institutes.

The most shocking thing is that when contacting ministry officials via e-mail, one does so via gmail or yahoo.

Why is it that the Government does not have its own dedicated e-mail, @gov.zw for example?

These are some of the things that are simple to fix and should be attended to with haste. Government does not even have to look far to see how their online presence should look. Parliament of Zimbabwe is the perfect example that they can follow.

Their website is up to date, one can find a plethora of information, from contact details of their MPs to transcribed and audio files of the latest debates in the House. In addition to improving their online presence, is the need for better means of communication.

This starts with having a uniform letter head and stamps for official documents. It should not be the case that people have to question the authenticity of a government issued communiqué because it looks very archaic.

Not only should Government have specific letterheads but their documents should be in a specific font and printed on specific paper to further aid in identification and increase veracity. Social media is another space that the Government needs to improve its presence on.

There are a growing number of Zimbabweans living beyond the country’s borders who stay updated on the situation back home via social media. It would therefore go a long way for the Government to have a few verified social media accounts that give updates on their work and can also be used as avenues to engage the Government on various matters.

If the Government doesn’t do this, they open themselves up to have fake accounts emerge in their name. Twitter already has a couple of President Mnangagwa accounts open and some, those who are easily fooled, believe that they belong to him.

Branding is important and when communicating with Zimbabweans and the outside world the image that the government puts across goes a long way in building confidence. When there is a lack of information and no clear channels to access accurate information, speculation emerges and from that ghastly rumours that only serve to destroy and not build.

Zimbabwe is currently on a new trajectory and as it is business unusual, the government should take these unusual steps to change the way it looks and the way it communicates.