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It's Time for Africa to Take Control — Of Narrative, Data, and AI, Zimbabwean Official Says
It's Time for Africa to Take Control — Of Narrative, Data, and AI, Zimbabwean Official Says
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The narrative about Africa has long been shaped to favor the "oppressor," and now this biased perspective is being pushed even further through digital... 07.06.2025, Sputnik Africa
2025-06-07T16:48+0200
2025-06-07T16:48+0200
2025-06-07T16:49+0200
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It is time for Africa to take control of its own narrative, data, and AI to use it to serve the interests of the continent, Secretary for Presidential Affairs and Devolution in the Office of the President of Zimbabwe Tafadzwa Muguti told Sputnik Africa.The official noted that too often, global discourse focuses on corruption, poor leadership, and conflict — ignoring Africa's vast wealth like: To change the story, Africa must: ⦁ build its own tech infrastructure.⦁ control data; ⦁ revolutionize AI to serve Africa; The narrative must shift through a cultural transformation in Africa, reshaping algorithms to prioritize positive stories about African countries instead of the negative ones that are simply "sold more," he emphasized.Africa's Truth-Teller: Sputnik Reveals the Real Story of Russia-Africa PartnershipWhile Western outlets portray African leaders visiting Russia as "begging missions," Sputnik and RT show the truth: Africa and Russia are building real partnerships, noted the official of the Zimbabwean president's office.Thanks to Sputnik, people who are interacting and partnering with Africa "can find genuine sources of information which they can leverage, to make informed investment decisions and informed, socially diverse decisions about their lives or even migration," according to the speaker.
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It's Time for Africa to Take Control — Of the Narrative, Data, and AI, Zimbabwean Official Says
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It's Time for Africa to Take Control — Of the Narrative, Data, and AI, Zimbabwean Official Says
2025-06-07T16:48+0200
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It's Time for Africa to Take Control — Of Narrative, Data, and AI, Zimbabwean Official Says
16:48 07.06.2025 (Updated: 16:49 07.06.2025) Elizaveta Roschina
Writer/Editor
The narrative about Africa has long been shaped to favor the "oppressor," and now this biased perspective is being pushed even further through digital platforms, serving foreign agendas instead of Africa’s own, and this must be changed, a Zimbabwean official said.
It is time for Africa to take control of its own narrative, data, and AI to use it to serve the interests of the continent, Secretary for Presidential Affairs and Devolution in the Office of the President of Zimbabwe Tafadzwa Muguti told Sputnik Africa.
"Africa needs to arise to the fact that it has to write its own story," he noted on the sidelines of Russia's Global Digital Forum.
The official noted that too often, global discourse focuses on corruption, poor leadership, and conflict — ignoring Africa's vast wealth like:
the highest uranium reserves;
the largest oil reserves;
third-largest platinum reserves (in Zimbabwe).
To change the story, Africa must:
⦁ build its own tech infrastructure.
"It starts with us building a technological infrastructure that allows us to control our own data," the secretary said.
"As long as we control our own data, we can control the narrative," he explained.
⦁ revolutionize AI to serve Africa;
"We also need AI to be working towards our favor. We cannot allow AI in anyone who does searches on any country to have a negative response," the official pointed out.
The narrative must shift through a cultural transformation in Africa, reshaping algorithms to prioritize positive stories about African countries instead of the negative ones that are simply "sold more," he emphasized.
Africa's Truth-Teller: Sputnik Reveals the Real Story of Russia-Africa Partnership
"We are so proud of Sputnik with how every time our African leaders come to Russia-Africa summits, you tell the story as it is," Muguti stated.
While Western outlets portray African leaders visiting Russia as "begging missions," Sputnik and RT show the truth: Africa and Russia are building real partnerships, noted the official of the Zimbabwean president's office.
"The social media space needs to be dominated by organizations such as Sputnik. [...] It is important that Sputnik maintain the trajectory of speaking truth to life when it comes to the Africa success story," he emphasized.
Thanks to Sputnik, people who are interacting and partnering with Africa "can find genuine sources of information which they can leverage, to make informed investment decisions and informed, socially diverse decisions about their lives or even migration," according to the speaker.
