E-Governance, E-Participation, and E-Service Delivery in the Parliament of Zimbabwe Amid COVID-19 Exigencies

Abstract

This article explored how the Parliament of Zimbabwe (PoZ) leveraged e-governance, e-participation, and e-service delivery within COVID-19 pressures. The study used the qualitative research methodology. An assortment of parliamentary reports, hansards, press statements, newspaper articles, documents, and other relevant literature on e-governance, e-participation, e-service delivery and COVID-19 were also used. The findings indicated that following the lockdowns in Zimbabwe which restricted the physical conduct in the transaction of business, the PoZ was quick to suspend business temporarily, so as to come up with measures to cope with the situation. It was found that parliamentarians adopted a hybrid strategy in their meetings, either physical or virtual. The adoption of e-governance closed the gap resulting from the restrictive measures brought about by COVID-19, thus enabling its members to continue with their constitutionally mandated functions. The findings suggest that e-governance, e-participation, and e-service delivery can help organisations cope with disruptions like COVID-19.