SADC Futures of Digital Geopolitics: Towards African Digital Sovereignty

The document examines the 'digital geopolitics' affecting the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, contrasting the commercially-driven US model, the state-centric Chinese model, and the human-centric EU model. It warns that without strategic agency and home-grown innovation, Africa risks 'digital recolonisation' or the adoption of 'authoritarian tech'. The authors recommend that SADC and the African Union (AU) harmonise data sovereignty frameworks, strengthen rights-centred implementation, and increase influence in international standard-setting bodies like the ITU to ensure digital transformation aligns with African contextual needs.

• The US digital model is characterized as a commercially driven private sector effort where the state acts as an ex post-facto regulator, often failing to contain the influence of 'big tech' companies that commodify human experience through surveillance capitalism.
• China's digital model is state-led and prioritizes the integrity and security of the state over individual liberties, utilizing a 'Digital Silk Road' to export infrastructure and potentially 'authoritarian tech' to other governments.
• The European Union positions itself as a global normative power, focusing on 'ethical and trustworthy tech' and individual sovereignty, exemplified by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which serves as a global benchmark.
• China currently dominates African digital infrastructure, providing 50% of 3G and 70% of 4G networks through companies like Huawei, and is leading the deployment of 5G.
• The US has historically been slow to develop a geopolitical digital strategy for Africa, though it is now increasing infrastructure investment through projects like Google's Equiano and Facebook's 2Africa subsea cables.
• There is a risk that authoritarian governments in Southern Africa may abuse 'digital sovereignty' tools to suppress citizen expression and entrench political control, particularly during a period of 'democratic recession'.
• In South Africa, the deployment of 'soft surveillance' and AI-powered CCTV in urban centres risks creating an 'AI-powered apartheid' by profiling poor and Black citizens.
• African states lack significant influence in international standard-setting forums, which allows dominant global powers to entrench dependencies on their own products and patents.
• Investment in African tech start-ups is severely lagging behind the US, with total investment of $1.2 billion representing less than 1% of the comparative US figure.

APA

HOFMEYR, J., WOLF, N., & CLOETE, D. (2022). SADC Futures of Digital Geopolitics: Towards African Digital Sovereignty. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SAIIA_OP_337_SADCFuturesDigitalGeopolitics.pdf

Chicago

HOFMEYR, JAN, NDEAPO WOLF, and DEON CLOETE. SADC Futures of Digital Geopolitics: Towards African Digital Sovereignty. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2022. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SAIIA_OP_337_SADCFuturesDigitalGeopolitics.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=HOFMEYR |first1=JAN |last2=WOLF |first2=NDEAPO |last3=CLOETE |first3=DEON |title=SADC Futures of Digital Geopolitics: Towards African Digital Sovereignty |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=October 2022 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SAIIA_OP_337_SADCFuturesDigitalGeopolitics.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hofmeyr2022sadc, author = {HOFMEYR, JAN and WOLF, NDEAPO and CLOETE, DEON}, title = {{SADC Futures of Digital Geopolitics: Towards African Digital Sovereignty}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2022}, month = oct, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SAIIA_OP_337_SADCFuturesDigitalGeopolitics.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }