Across South Africa, public service teams work tirelessly to meet the needs of citizens – often under immense pressure and with challenging circumstances.
By Gugu Nyanda, health and public service lead at Accenture, Africa
While there has been meaningful progress in modernising service delivery, many citizens still encounter long waits and manual paperwork when applying for essential services like Smart IDs or clinic-based healthcare. These moments present an opportunity: to build on existing efforts and explore new ways of working that make services more accessible, efficient, and human-centred.
To build a capable, citizen-centred state, we need a bold national commitment – a digital public service compact that ensures every sphere of government becomes fully digital by 2030.
This must be an all-in strategy, not a tech pilot here or an app there. A country with our levels of inequality, youth unemployment, and governance challenges cannot afford a slow and fragmented path to reform. Going digital is not just a technical upgrade, it is a national imperative to rebuild trust, improve delivery, and close the gap between promise and practice.
The first step is recognising the scale of the opportunity. When digital platforms are well-designed and widely accessible, they can eliminate queues, streamline payments, speed up applications, and make service delivery dramatically more efficient and equitable.
South Africa already has pockets of progress. The South African Revenue Service and eFiling, for example, show what is possible when digital is done right. But too many departments and municipalities still rely on disconnected legacy systems. This leaves citizens with the burden of bridging gaps between offices, filling in the same forms multiple times, and enduring delays that often erode trust in the state.
Consider the Department of Home Affairs. For years, it has faced criticism for delays, duplication, and identity fraud. Recent moves to digitise Smart ID applications and include naturalised citizens are encouraging. But until all civil registration services from birth certificates to passports are digitised and integrated across all provinces and service channels, the bottlenecks will persist.
Likewise, in social development, SASSA showed during the pandemic how online applications for emergency relief could reach millions quickly. That same urgency and digital capability must now be scaled across all grant systems.
This transformation must not stop at national departments. Provincial and municipal governments are equally central. Whether it is applying for a housing subsidy, logging a service delivery complaint, or renewing a business license, every public interaction should be fast, transparent, and trackable.
The reality today is far from that. Many local authorities still require residents to print forms, carry cash, or physically visit offices. That is not just inefficient, it is exclusionary particularly for citizens in rural areas, townships, or those with mobility challenges.
Global experience confirms that change is possible – and powerful. In India, the Aadhaar digital ID system, now covering over a billion residents, has slashed verification costs and enabled seamless access to bank accounts and social benefits.
In Brazil, a unified government platform with interoperable data sharing saved the economy billions and delivered more coordinated, responsive services. Closer to home, Rwanda’s Irembo platform allows citizens to access over 100 services online, from birth registration to driving licenses. South Africa can learn from these examples, but we must also lead by designing solutions for our unique context.
A digital public service compact must be rooted in clear principles. First, policy alignment and leadership. Every ministry, province, and municipality must commit to a common roadmap, with shared standards for platforms, data protection, and service integration. This is not a job for IT departments alone it requires senior political leadership, budget reallocation, and cross-departmental accountability.
Second, we need sustainable investment in digital infrastructure. Initiatives like SA Connect, which aims to bring broadband to government sites and public spaces, must be accelerated. Citizens need free or affordable access to digital services, especially in underserved areas. That includes zero-rating key platforms and ensuring mobile accessibility for those without high-end devices.
Third, the public sector workforce must be upskilled and supported. Civil servants are the bridge between policy and people. They need training, tools, and incentives to embrace digital service delivery. A nationwide digital skills uplift – from basic system navigation to data analytics and cybersecurity – will ensure no one is left behind in the transition.
Fourth, the transformation must be citizen-first. That means designing digital platforms that are easy to use, available in local languages, and respectful of privacy. Government should engage communities, civil society, and private partners to co-create services, gather feedback, and ensure that digital migration does not deepen the divide – but narrows it.
Digital literacy campaigns, community access points, and inclusive onboarding strategies will be vital.
Already, there is momentum. South Africa has improved its ranking in the UN e-Government Development Index and has identified more than 250 services for digitisation. Over 130 are now live on the national portal. But this is only a foundation. We must now scale, coordinate, and consolidate these gains through a formal compact that binds the whole of government to a digital future.
The choice is ours to make. We can persist with outdated systems, paper trails, and inefficiencies that alienate citizens and frustrate progress. Or we can build a responsive, transparent, and digital government that earns the trust of every South African whether they live in a township, a village, or a city.
By 2030, there should be no reason a South African waits in a queue to do something that could be done in a click. The tools exist. The models exist. What is needed now is the will – and a national digital compact to make it happen.