Alternative ways to buy ZESA Tokens

ZESA is trending today (1 June 2020, Covid Lock-down) on Twitter, and for a good reason, it is very difficult to buy tokens today, just like the first of (almost) all months. I have personally never come across an explanation from ZETDC as to why this is always he case, but my kindergarten ICT tells me its because of the current system that the guys at ZESA use: the KWh are cheaper with the first purchase/s of each month up to a certain threshold, and the cost rises exponentially with each subsequent purchase, meaning its wiser to buy most of your electricity power needs near the beginning of each month (translating to the first of each month for most of us. 

This means most people try and buy their ZESA on the first of each month, and clearly the ZETDC servers are failing to carter for the increased traffic, and I don't think there is a will to correct this situation because it has been ongoing for a very long time now.

I faced the same problem today when I wanted to buy my magetsi worth ZW$200RTGS (I hope that's

how it's written). Ecocash was telling me my request was submitted for further review or something like that. My favorite application for buying ZESA and topping up most of my accounts, TopUp Zimbabwe (www.topup.co.zw) was even warning me before doing anything that ZESA servers were giving them too many errors and it might/would take up to 48 hours before the issue is resolved. I could tell the issue was big because ZETDC servers were failing to respond back to TopUp.co.zw with my account details after supplying the Meter Number.

I eventually managed to by me Token, and I will list a number of ways one can use to buy, try all the methods, and one should work for you:

1. Ecocash / One Money way

This is the most accessible way to buy electricity as almost everyone is on the Ecocash platform, I don't know much about OneMoney as I have never used it. The steps for Ecocash USSD are as follows:

1. Make sure your Ecocash Wallet is funded (obviously)
2. Dial *151# and enter your Ecocash PIN on the prompt.
3. Select Option 2. Make payment, and then Option -> 7. Regular Payments  followed by -> 1. Pay ZESA then Choose option -> 1. Buy Token
4. Enter the amount in RTGS you wish to buy the token for
5. Enter the Meter Number.
6. Follow all the prompts until you confirm your purchase and you will receive your ZESA Token as an SMS

This is one of the next to impossible ways to buy ZESA on the first of the month! You can also try using the Ecocash Android App.

2. Bank

NMB Bank advertising their essential payments service

If you have a bank account (and yes, there are many people who do not have an active bank account!) and have registerd for SMS / Mobile / Internet banking, you can use your RTGS balance in the bank to buy ZESA Tokens. There are too many banks out there with different ways of doing things, so we cant highlight the method for each and every bank, but I have used my NMB (USSD code *240#) and Steward accounts in the past on the 1st and never had problems.

3. Topup.co.zw (My personal favourite)

Topup.co.zw is my personal favorite because of the way it makes it easy to buy electricity tokens. A simple minimalist interface makes the use of this site a joy. Unfortunately, today I failed to buy using this method because ZESA servers were frustrating the process, but (if you have data) just visit topup.co.zw and try it, today or any other day. 

Payment Convenience is what topup.co.zw is all about.

You can use topup.co.zw for a whole lot more things, including buying your Netone airtime using Ecocash, a challenge for many people. You can even have a shortcut on your mobile device for quicker access the next time you want to use the system, yes, its not a native app, you will still need data to access it, but its very handy.

4. Instapay

After I failed to buy using my favourite method, I then used Instapay. I have the InstaPay app installed on my Android phone, and you can too, just visit Google Playstore and install so you can easily use it the next time, but this time I used the web version, you get it here: https://instapayweb.vas.co.zw/ and its what worked for me today, and a few people I directed there also managed to buy their tokens quite easily. It works in a similar way to topup.co.zw, but I personally prefer the interface on TopUp compared to Instapay web version.

Go ahead, chose a method and let me know which method worked for you in the comments box, and also help with any other ways so we can all benefit.

5. Update 1: ZimPayments

I have also learnt of ZimPayments, and a lot of people seem to have success by using the service found on https://www.zimpayments.com/zetdc. I haven't used it personally, but you can still try it.

6. Ownai

Some people are also finding success using the Econet Owned Ownai which you can find here: https://cs.ownai.co.zw/zesa.php

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EcoCash Clandestinely Increase Charges by 200%

Econet's Mobile Money platform, Ecocash has clandestinely increased its charges by a massive 200%, and this was done clandestinely as evidence on the ground shows no-one knew of the increase.

The 200% is a figure for the Balance Inquiry, which is mainly free with the other mobile money facilities like Telecel's Telecash and NetOne's One Money. Balance Inquiry has always been charged at 2 cents (US$0.02) by the cash chowing Ecocash, and now it is being charged at 6 cents, a massive 200% increase for a service that has very little, if any, direct costs for the service provider, Econet.

I asked 7 of my workmates here if they received an SMS or other communication from Ecocash of the intended increase prior to its being effected, and none has received any such information, and interestingly, 4 of these did not even know that they were always charged for Balance Inquiry.

When Transacting, one will be charged the 6 cents on their wallet balance, whilst the information  hidden in the columns on their website wrongly claims you will be charged only 3 cents, as indicated in the screen capture below from their website.

Ecocash Website Wrongly indicates you will be charged 3 cents (As at 1544Hrs 05 Sept 2018), wheres the actual charge is 6 cents

What Econet has done is unfair on its clients, and I want to believe should also be illegal, but I am no legal brains. Ecocash is the country's most popular Mobile Money platform, if not payment platform for anything, and is also the most expensive of all the Mobile Money platforms from the three Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). They even charge for services that other operators provide for free services like sending money to other registered users of the platform, with TeleCash, for example, sending money is free, you are only charged for purchases and cash-outs, as these involve 3rd parties that need to get some commission.

Their website also claims that "Transactions for less than $1 are FREE" but they charge for balance inquiry as if it were a transaction above the dollar threshold.

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Africom Android Internet Settings

I have had problems every time I try to reconfigure any new Android phone using the Africom line. By the way, Africom uses CDMA technology, which is different from the 'normal' GSM lines we are used to, the ones on Econet, Telecel and Netone. A CDMA device, like my current Lenovo smartphone, cannot be used with a GSM line, and the reverse is also true, there a few but major differences that are not in the scope of this post, so I will not delve into those.

Like I said, it has always been a hustle getting to set-up my Android device with the Africom line, and I am sure this has also been an issue for a number of people as indicated by Google's search results. A normal Google search for the configuration for Africom will show you that a number of people have faced the same problem (Google suggests the search terms, showing it is not a once off search item, a bit of Google analytics here, but we will talk about this in another post). Unfortunately all the links I got had no solution on configuring internet settings for an Android phone, with TechZim Answers offering various solutions that are only for the Africom Dongles.

Google suggests the correct terms, meaning a lot of people have searched for this on Google

Every time I have faced this problem I have resorted to calling them, (Customer care number for Africom being 400, toll free from all Africom lines), or chatting with them via their website (And they always respond via both website chat or phone calls, unlike Econet, notorious for not being able to answer most calls to its customer care numbers). Africom is very helpful, try them.

So this is what I got as the solution if you have an Android phone, especially the older ones (Android 2.x etc).

Setting Name	Value
APN Name	Africom (or anything you can remember)
APN	africom
Username	648448644253159@africom.co.zw
Password	africom001
MCC	648
MNC	44
IP Version	ipv4v6
Authentication Type	pap or chap
Prompt Password	#777

These are all the settings you need, anything else leave it as the default. So if you continue facing challenges after this, you can still get in touch with them using their toll free number, if this helped you, leave a comment in the box below so we can help others too.

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How Zimbabweans can Choose Which Social Networks to Showcase their Products and Services

This post is inspired by a lot of discussions I have seen on a number of social media platforms, the latest being my (Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn) friend Nico Abote's post on his Facebook profile. He was celebrating the kind of connections he is making on LinkedIn compared to, presumably, Facebook. Nico, by the way, is a renowned videographer.

After Nico’s post, many of his Facebook friends came in with their own thoughts, he is one of the Zimbabweans with a high engagement rate on Facebook, I must admit, and this post was no different. Some of the comments led me to write this post and try to demystify the concept of which social network is better than the other.

There are too many Social Media platforms to consider, and I would advise anyone not to try too many, an average of 2 to 3 networks and doing them very well should be enough for most businesses and freelancers. The question that then comes is: How do I chose which 2 or 3 to focus on. And it is this issue that I will try to address here. In social media, it’s about quality, not just quantity. Doing two or three channels really well with consistent, highly engaging content that is reaching and interacting with your target audience is what will lead to conversion and customers.

I used to talk of ‘The Big 5’ in Social Media, that is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+, but from now I will talk of ‘The Serious 6’, because Instagram has given reason to believe it must always be considered. Many people also want to talk of Pinterest, but personally I have never been a big fan of the network, and I’ve also realised that not many Zimbabweans use Pinterest. So for now I will leave it in my argument.

Who is Where?

Source: slideshare.net

Before you chose which 2 or 3 of these 6 you need concentrate on, you first need to know who your customer is, after answering this question, determine where this targeted buyer is found, and since there is no data specific to Zimbabwe on the demographics and usage of these social networks, we will use the international statistics, and accordingto a Pew survey in 2015:

• Facebook has wide, global usage, and surprisingly to me, fewer young people are staying active.
• Instagram is a favourite among teens and young adults.
• Twitter is home to many information junkies and tech savvy people (In Zimbabwe, it has become a discussion platform, especially from those who hate what the inept government is doing to our beloved Zimbabwe)
• LinkedIn is the playground for high income, educated professionals
• Google+ is a network with a predominantly older male user base (in Zimbabwe, we would just say male user, not OLDER male user)
• YouTube has an equal number of men and women, but men are more active users with wider preferences
• And though I didn’t want to list it, Pinterest has a user base which is 80% female dominated, most of whom are from a higher income background

Assuming these stats hold true for Zimbabwe as an individual demography sample, you now know where you are likely to get the most returns on your social media marketing efforts by targeting your personas.

What Content Do You Share?

For your content to go viral and have meaningful engagement, you need to post on the right platforms, written content performs differently with visual content on different platforms.

Written content has proven to be more effective on platforms that ensure readership. Whether it’s short or long, articles and blog posts get a lot of visibility and shares through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

On the other hand, if your business has a lot of focus on physical products, going visual can open up endless possibilities for you. Facebook (yes, Facebook again), Instagram (and Pinterest and Tumblr and  . . .) are great for visually oriented social media accounts which are usually dominated by girls.

If you create or can create a lot of videos about your products or services, then you have to seriously consider YouTube. Whilst other video sharing sites like Vimeo and Vine have proved very popular globally, I am yet to ascertain their popularity and effectiveness with the locals, but you can still try them. Consider creating ‘How To’ videos, as they can attract the right type of people to your channel.

Your Industry

There is a general trend on the type of industry that performs better on certain platforms, and you need to choose wisely if you are to get the desired engagement and eventually conversion of fans into customers.

Here are some of the industry based trends across social networks:

• ·         Instagram — art, food, retail, lifestyle and leisure
• ·         Twitter — news, tech updates
• ·         LinkedIn — B2B, recruitment agencies
• ·         Facebook — Almost everyone, but few Business 2 Business companies
• ·         YouTube — Luxury products, DIY, Home improvement (How to videos)
• ·         Google+ — SEO, IT

Which would you take?

So whats the best network?

Whilst Facebook is the largest social Network, it can never guarantee you the kind of exposure you might need as a business, especially if your clients are other businesses (B2B guys). Its Newsfeed algorithm will mean you post can easily get lost in a myriad of other status updates and 'weekend at the bar' photos. However, it is the best for customer engagement and building long term relationships.

For products based companies and creatives like photographers and videographers, visual is the way to go, with YouTube, Instagram leading the way (you can put in Pinterest there). They will work well in your product promotion strategy.

Keep your LinkedIn profile professional, and do all the funny stuff on Facebook, just do not jeopardize you chances at anything

Twitter (My personal favorite) is interesting; it works well for most of these businesses. It is an interesting hybrid with active usage by everyone from teenagers to famous athletes and actors to professionals, and companies using it to reach both consumers and businesses. Twitter is also the best if your business is up for constant interaction. It has also become a great platform to run a support center without any hassle. Econet used to use Twitter very well to solve their customers’ problems, although this side of their business has since dropped down dramatically.

What other factors are important in choosing the right social media network? Respond in the comments box below.

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Facebook's Free Basics: The Other Side

So, according to TechZim, Facebook will be launching its Free Basics service in Zimbabwe in January 2016. Oh, good thing, I mean, what else would be better than having the Internet, the World Wide Web (WWW) of information, available even to the poorest areas of Zimbabwe and poor Zimbabweans, for FREE, yeah, you heard me right, for FREE, not some bundles or other such marketing gimmicks as we have been used to being provided by our Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Econet and Telecel. After all, this service has already been launched in some African countries.

According to Facebook, a number of SELECTED basic services will be offered to the Zimbabwean community for free, and these basic services include websites or apps that deal in health, education and so on. This should be a welcome development, as important information about such things as health will be available to the masses for free, a situation better than the current situation where only those with the money to buy data can access such information. The overall aim is to make anyone and everyone, especially the poor, access such basic information, thereby bettering their lives.

For the Poor, but not for the Poor

Sarcastically.....Yes, access to internet is going to better the lives of people who have no access to sanitised toilets, toothbrush, basic healthcare, education, have no source of income, no chances of mobility. This can be considered a dangerous proposition, giving people with no access to basic rights information on what could be, without allowing them the remotest chance to be a part of that which they will desire.

The poor need the basics, Sanitized toilets, and not the internet

Raising poor people's aspiration, by providing them with internet access, must be met with opportunities to pursue the aspirations, otherwise its plain cruuelty. If we are going to be honest with each other, these poor communities rarely use the internet for productivity, but for chatting, music and videos, whilst we might not necessarily want to dictate what anyone uses the internet for, this free access will create an even greater demand for such services as Facebook, thereby distracting the productivity of these communities, whilst increasing the marketing value of Facebook, via the aptly named Free Basics (FB as well)

Net Neutrality

The issue of Net Neutrality has been discussed and exhausted, but I will highlight it again here. A lot of us Zimbabweans might not understand what Net Neutrality is, so I'll take the definition from Wikipedia:

Net neutrality (also network neutrality, Internet neutrality, or net equality) is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet the same, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication. (Wikipedia, 31 Dec 2015)

Let me further explain what this means, Anyone should have access to any website or web resource, at the same price.

This probably still doesn't make sense to some, so let me give an example of clear violation of the principle of Net Neutrality: Econet offers Facebook and Whatsapp Bundles, at a cheaper price than accessing other sites per Megabyte. This means people on Econet platform are more likely to visit their Facebook than many other platforms and websites on the Internet. (Facebook is not the Internet, and the Internet is not Facebook)

So what is the problem with you being granted access to information or apps that you use everyday at a cheaper rate than others that are not so useful websites or apps? Everything. For starters, it makes the playing ground uneven, consider a small Zimbabwean startup that has developed an app to compete with Whatsapp, who will use that app if accessing it is more expensive compared to accessing the established brand? The internet should be open, and access should be fair so we can all compete at the same level.

The worst thing, in reference to Net Neutrality and the Free Basics service, is that Facebook and the ISPs decide what is basic. We do not need Internet Gatekeepers. This hand-picking of services to be included will obviously lead to discrimination against other services not on the list, especially those of rivals, take the case of Econet's Ownai a classifieds platform that is zero rated from an Econet line, it makes it unfair on other such services as www.classifieds.co.zw, and eventually will kick out smaller rivals out of business, leading to monopolising certain sections of the Internet.

Yes, they will decide what we can, and what we cannot access!

Privacy Issues 

 Facebook basically is in the business of selling data, your data, to those who want to market their products and services, they are not in the business of connecting you with your loved ones, they only use that as bait. Now allowing all services that are accessible via Free Basics's data to pass through Facebook's servers simply means we are giving them more data than they can collect via their Social Networking platform, Facebook itself, and they will make money using your data, without your consent.

A better explanation of the dangers of this is given by the Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institute of Science in their statement criticizing Free Basics:

This flaw is not visible to the lay person as it’s a technical detail, but it has deep and disturbing implications.  Since Facebook can access un-encrypted contents of users’ ‘basic’ services, either we get to consider health apps to be not basic, or risk revealing health records of all Indians to Facebook.  Either we get to consider our banking apps to be not ‘basic’, or risk exposing the financial information of all Indians to Facebook.

Finally

Whilst Free Basics seems a very noble idea, and will obviously come with some immense benefits to the Zimbabwean population, we need to be worried, lest allowing them to run such services will eventually give them access to almost all data on all Zimbabweans. Whilst this might seem far-fetched, Facebook can eventually become stronger than the Government:

If it is able to lobby the government to let free basics through, it might become stronger than the government. 2/2

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) December 28, 2015

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