**7.2 Research question 2: what are the challenges encountered by both the students and lectures in effectively carrying out e-learning sessions?**

The challenges faced by both South African and Zimbabwean universities in successfully implementing the online lectures were similar. Poor network bandwidth [11, 23], personal electronic gadgets [4, 21], loadshedding [25] and user capability [8], lack of internet infrastructure [8], restricted home space [21, 22, 24] and cost of data bundles [8, 20] were the most common challenges coined in the reviewed publications. These challenges exacerbated the digital divide gap between the rich and poor [8] and problems of power generation in Southern Africa interrupted online lectures and rendered great challenges in disseminating information between students and lecturers [25]. Universities were caught unprepared with the pandemic and accelerated use of digital tools for pedagogical purposes. However, students and some of the lecturers were not accustomed on how to use the technological innovations. Additionally, the internet infrastructure, software and hardware were drastic challenges to operate online learning sufficiently and efficiently.
