They aren’t the only ones, either. Ask anyone who’s used the Chicken Inn app and got an app freeze that removed their discount, had scaling issues on ABC Auctions, or, of course, tried to use Tap N’ Go, especially in its launch phase. It’s a pattern for Zimbabwean apps to be a mess either at launch or, worse still, continue to have issues for as long as they are available. Just look at how EcoCash basically abandoned their original Android app, mostly because, for some reason, they simply couldn’t update that app for almost 10 years, then finally scrapped it when they introduced a new app (you can actually still find the old app if you ever downloaded it on the Play Store). Why they did this remains a mystery, but it brings a bigger question and a lot of theories as to how and why these companies ship broken apps.

In EcoCash’s case, the two apps were likely built by different internal teams, or worse yet, different external consultants, meaning whoever built that original app likely wasn’t available for updates or any further enhancements to the app. The two apps technically are under different vendors on the Play Store, but that could simply be a side effect of Econet’s penchant for corporate restructurings. As for RedanFlexi? Well, that one is a much simpler case of an app built using AI.

Now let’s be clear, vibe coding isn’t a bad thing, and while it may be causing a lot of turmoil in the global software industry, it’s often a great tool in the hands of competent developers. However, competence is kind of the keyword there, because the best thing about AI is also its worst thing: making people lazy and sloppy when it comes to the quality of their work. A seasoned software developer might look through every facet of the code, mostly to understand how it works, where it can be improved, and any unintended consequences like unnecessary server usage or, in Redan’s case, a functional user registry flow. Because now, no matter how much extra work was poured into that app, this one error makes it seem useless (and for those of you wondering, it hasn’t gotten an update since I got it almost 3 weeks ago). And yes, there may be justifiable reasons for this. For example, the developer team for the app (if it’s even a full team), might have been under tremendous pressure to hit a launch date. But now all that will seem for naught if again, the app doesn’t work.  EcoCloud seems to be built by an external contractor, namely Babylon Cloud S.p.A. , so maybe Econet and them need to sit down and sort out their rollout a bit better. Either way, it’s not a great look.