South Africa prioritises high-impact digital services in 2024-2029 plan

The South African government says it is working to make its digital transformation journey more inclusive by focusing on aspects with potential high impact for society including digital identity issuance, grant payments, and health records management.

These are part of major digital transformation priorities outlined by the government in the country’s Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP) 2024-2029. The plan, which has three major pillars, was adopted by cabinet in February last year.

Per the plan, South Africa considers digital transformation as a central enabler of its national development agenda and is looking to put in place the right digital infrastructure needed to support these ambitions.

At a recent media briefing to evaluate the implementation of the medium-term plan so far, the Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Hon Maropene Ramokgopa, said while there’s been progress on the field, a lot more still has to be done.

The press briefing addressed broad issues related to governance reform, infrastructure investment, social inclusion, and digital transformation efforts.

“The MTDP is government’s blueprint for driving change and improving the lives of our people. While progress has been made, we are clear that more must be done, with urgency, discipline and focus,” the minister affirmed in a speech.

Speaking on digital transformation, Ramokgopa said that in addition to what is being done, the government is determined to work towards expanding broadband connectivity, modernizing government services through digital governance, building digital skills to encourage innovation, and ensuring inclusive access to the country’s digital economy.

“Digital transformation, which includes high internet and connectivity growth and efforts to extend the national bandwidth coverage, is emerging as a key enabler of a capable state,” the minister said.

He cited the launch of the MyMzansi DPI roadmap prototype, an ongoing information-sharing pilot through MzansiXchange platform modelled after Estonia’s X-road, digital ID and digital payment reforms which are in progress, and the expansion of 5G internet connectivity.

Ramokgopa then mentioned steps envisaged to ramp up digital transformation and solve the problems of uneven digital capacity across government departments and spheres of government, and to close the cybersecurity, data governance and digital skills development gap in the country.

A plan, he said, is being worked out for the government to “accelerate cloud migration and data governance reforms, strengthen digital literacy and cybersecurity capabilities across the state, [and] finalize the Digital Economy Masterplan and associated regulatory updates.”

As part of the MTDP, a digital ID system is expected to be rolled out by the end of this year, according to TechAfrica News.

Article Topics

digital government  |  digital ID  |  digital ID infrastructure  |  digital inclusion  |  government services  |  MyMzansi  |  South Africa