Digital Public Infrastructure Futures: Charting Inclusive and Secure Transformation in the SADC Region

The document argues that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) can accelerate economic resilience and regional integration by transitioning from fragmented digital systems to a cohesive Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). While the region has strong foundations in payment systems like RTGS and TCIB, it faces systemic risks from a 'regulatory deficit', specifically the low adoption of the AU Malabo Convention. The authors propose a 'Triple-A' agenda: accelerate the federated e-Know Your Customer (e-KYC) framework to include 3.7 million cross-border nationals, anchor governance using 'techno-legal' safeguards inspired by India's DPI Sutras, and assert a unified global position via the African Digital Compact. The brief emphasizes that technical capacity is not the primary barrier; rather, policy fragmentation and the digital divide—particularly affecting rural populations and people with disabilities—must be addressed to achieve digital sovereignty.

• SADC possesses a 'brownfield' advantage for digital transformation, meaning it can build upon existing operational payment rails such as the SADC Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system (operational since 2013) and the Transactions Cleared on Immediate Basis (TCIB) system (launched in 2021).
• The primary obstacle to realizing DPI in SADC is not technological but is instead caused by policy fragmentation and a regulatory implementation lag, most notably the failure of most member states to ratify the AU Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (Malabo Convention).
• A federated e-Know Your Customer (e-KYC) ecosystem is being established across 16 SADC member states to address the fact that over 3.7 million cross-border nationals currently lack access to formal financial services due to fragmented national ID platforms.
• The document recommends adopting a 'techno-legal' approach to governance, drawing on India's 'DPI Sutras', where compliance and rights-preserving protocols are embedded directly into the system code (e.g., mandatory consent mechanisms in APIs) to prevent the weaponization of DPI by state or corporate actors.
• SADC faces structural barriers in global digital governance due to resource asymmetry, visa restrictions, and travel costs, which limit the influence of Global South experts and force the region to follow the positions of global powers on AI regulation and data flows.
• To ensure equitable access and close the digital divide, DPI implementation must address the exclusion of people with disabilities—of whom only 16% of Africans are online—through investment in assistive technologies and hybrid service delivery models (blending online and offline tools).

APA

Mzinyati, L., & Cloete, D. (2025). Digital Public Infrastructure Futures: Charting Inclusive and Secure Transformation in the SADC Region. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/SAIIA_PI_171_DPI-FUTURES.pdf

Chicago

Mzinyati, Litha, and Deon Cloete. Digital Public Infrastructure Futures: Charting Inclusive and Secure Transformation in the SADC Region. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2025. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/SAIIA_PI_171_DPI-FUTURES.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Mzinyati |first1=Litha |last2=Cloete |first2=Deon |title=Digital Public Infrastructure Futures: Charting Inclusive and Secure Transformation in the SADC Region |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=November 2025 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/SAIIA_PI_171_DPI-FUTURES.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mzinyati2025digital, author = {Mzinyati, Litha and Cloete, Deon}, title = {{Digital Public Infrastructure Futures: Charting Inclusive and Secure Transformation in the SADC Region}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2025}, month = nov, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/SAIIA_PI_171_DPI-FUTURES.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }