At least 24 countries went to the polls in 2024. A further 17 held elections in 2025. And 2026 continues the trend, with landmark contests in Ethiopia, Zambia, Uganda, and South Africa鈥檚 municipal elections. What each of the countries holding elections in 2026 have in common is expressed public support at the highest levels of government for the role of technology to improve citizens鈥� lives.

Across the continent, governments are investing heavily in digital identity systems, e-government platforms, and AI-enabled public services. The result is a profound shift in how governments function and how citizens engage in the democratic process. In the most recent UN e-Government Development Index (EGDI), . Mauritius and South Africa joined an elite group of countries with a very high EGDI, a first for the continent.

This is significant because digital government is not just about digitising and modernising administrative tasks but equipping governments with the ability to respond faster, serve better, and build stronger, more participatory relationships with citizens. These capabilities are becoming increasingly important given that citizens judge governments not only on policy intent, but on visible delivery outcomes.

From ambition to Digital Public Infrastructure

The scale of investment into digital government initiatives indicates that governments today see digital capabilities as core national infrastructure. The World Bank鈥檚 Digital Economy for Africa (DE4A) initiative has already delivered around $9 billion in projects . Mobile technologies alone , with further network investment expected to reach $77 billion by 2030.

This investment is paying dividends as is evidenced by several fundamentally transformational initiatives. In Ethiopia, the Fayda digital identity programme already has  out of a target of more than 90 million citizens. South Africa鈥檚 ) aims to transform government Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) through the implementation of a Digital ID, Data Exchange, and the first government payment and service integration projects. From 2028, MyMzansi intends to scale the technologies to the broader public sector, including health, education and business services.

The World Bank-funded  is reported to be approximately 55% complete and already fast-tracking broadband access, public service digitisation and strengthening the foundations for a single-login digital identity experience. Kenya offers possibly the continent鈥檚 most mature evidence of digital governance impact with its eCitizen platform, which now provides .

For citizens across the continent, the impact is tangible through improved access to critical services, more targeted social protection systems, and greater financial inclusion. For governments, the dividend is improved fiscal control, higher transparency, and better ability to allocate scarce resources where they have the greatest public impact.

A structural shift in how governments operate

Governments are increasingly looking to integrate data, applications, and AI into unified environments that allow them to scale services, improve decision-making, and respond faster to change. The ability to connect budgets, programmes, and citizen data in real time represents a structural shift in how governments operate.

This is a critical shift given their role in shaping nearly every citizen outcome. Health systems depend on the efficient moving of medicines, people, funding and information. Public safety depends on coordination across departments, faster access to reliable data, while meeting sustainability goals requires better planning, stronger monitoring, and the ability to align policy, spending, and implementation. In each case, disconnected systems slow governments down and limit their impact, while connected systems improve their ability to act.

Here, foundational technologies such as ERP, cloud and AI are proving central to governments鈥� digitisation drives. ERP systems help governments unify core functions such as finance, procurement, human resources, grants, and programme management. Cloud environments provide the flexibility and resilience needed to scale digital services quickly and securely. AI adds another layer of value by helping public institutions analyse large volumes of data, identify patterns earlier, automate routine tasks, and support better policy and service decisions.

Bringing these technologies together creates a system where every decision informs the next to significantly improve citizen experiences, and which has the potential to contribute to better service delivery outcomes. Equally important, it creates the controls, auditability and resilience needed to operate in an era of cyber risk, fiscal constraint and elevated citizen expectations.

From digital ambition to measurable delivery

The success of digital government initiatives will ultimately be measured by their demonstrable ability to serve people better.

Trust grows when citizens can access services more easily, receive information more quickly, and engage government through more responsive channels. When public institutions can draw on integrated data and analytics, they are better positioned to identify service gaps, respond to emerging needs, and allocate resources more effectively. Technology, in this sense, becomes an enabler of a more capable and more accountable government.

Countries making the most significant progress are showing that digital transformation works best when it is tied to practical outcomes. Digital identity drives inclusion, AI supports better decision-making, and ERP and cloud modernise administration and improve financial controls. The opportunity now exists for governments to build on these foundations with platforms that are secure, compliant, designed to scale and are future-fit.

Public institutions need technology environments that can integrate data across functions, support mission-critical processes, and adapt quickly to changing citizen and policy needs. They need the ability to improve productivity, optimise service delivery, and enhance policy decisions without adding new layers of complexity.

Critically, digital government cannot succeed without resilience. Beyond day-to-day efficiency, governments require continuity, cyber preparedness, and the ability to scale services safely during spikes in demand, whether driven by elections, emergencies, or economic shocks. Platforms must therefore be engineered for reliability and recovery, not only functionality.

Africa鈥檚 digital government push is about capacity, and whether governments can use technology to become more agile, more connected, and more responsive. In a year shaped by elections across the continent, digital transformation has become a civic priority as well as an administrative one.

The governments that will stand out are those that move from 鈥渄igital projects鈥� to 鈥渄igital public infrastructure鈥�: platforms that are trusted, secure, interoperable, and designed to deliver measurable outcomes at national scale.

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Globally, local and national governments continue to gain access to ever more powerful technologies for collecting, storing, processing and applying data.

As cities improve their capacity for collecting and analysing data, and continue to gather more of it, an opportunity for open collaboration emerges. Many of the risks we face – rapid urbanisation, the impacts of climate change, effective management of scarce resources such as water – are shared among South Africa鈥檚 cities.

Leveraging shared data and analytics could help identify risks more quickly, drive the development of solutions to common challenges and greatly improve the delivery of services to citizens, thereby fostering trust and building greater social cohesion.

With the volume of operational and experience data growing at a rapid pace, cities could 鈥� with the correct investment into intelligent technologies 鈥� seamlessly merge data sets to produce real-time insights that can guide decision-making at every step of the citizen journey.

Building greater e-government capacity

In a recent UN e-government study, in the e-government development index, an indicator of digital government services maturity. This put the country in the top 100 countries worldwide and above the global average, although still well behind countries in Europe, North America and Asia.

According to the OECD, within African cities. Considering the parlous state of finances in some of South Africa鈥檚 cities, the improved use of data could help bring greater transparency to public spending and help ensure critical financial resources are applied where they can make the greatest difference to citizens.

For example, an open data policy, where cities make important data visible and accessible to citizens, could improve oversight over how governments make important decisions, how public funds are spent versus what the budget priorities are, and how well different government departments are functioning in providing essential services to citizens.

According to the UN, the number of countries that have set up open government data portals continues to increase, .

SA cities strive for smart

Locally, cities such as Cape Town have established open data portals that encourage citizen participation in local government decision-making processes. The City of Cape Town offers nearly 86 data sets for downloading by the public, with stakeholders such as universities, laboratories and non-profit organisations using the data to drive local research and innovation.

Cape Town’s Emergency Policing and Incident Command (EPIC) program, which went live in 2016 and is a first of its kind in South Africa, provides a centralised emergency control platform for the preparation, mitigation, response and quick resolution of all public safety incidents in the city. The platform is built on powerful intelligent technologies with comprehensive reporting capabilities that provide real-time access to incident data which informs broader planning and response strategies.

Johannesburg is accelerating its plans to become a smart city by mobilising its enviable community of start-ups and innovators through a city-wide smart city innovation challenge. In addition, President Ramaphosa’s vision for building a brand new smart city on the outskirts of Johannesburg could foster a new era of innovation.

Relying on renewable energy and built with a focus on non-motorised transport, the planned smart city could accommodate up to half a million residents by the end of the decade and transform the economic and employment prospects for millions living in the region.

Unlocking intelligent public enterprises

Improved use of data within SA鈥檚 cities could also foster new business models that are built on data-driven innovation and real-time insights. By improving the use of data as a vital public resource, cities could achieve:

1. Improved governance through evidence-based policy making, outcomes-based contracting for key public works programmes, and community budgeting that increases citizen engagement with vital budgetary processes to help ensure optimal use of public funds;

2. Better mobility through the integration of ride-hailing and demand-based transit services into public transport networks, improved e-mobility, and the establishment of network logistic hubs;

3. Superior citizen experiences through the improved delivery of e-government services, better experience management to remove pain points from citizen interactions with government services, and predictive public safety initiatives;

4. Cleaner environment through the establishment of infrastructure and services enabling a circular economy, and empowering citizens to become digital prosumers; and

5. Stronger economy through improved public-private partnerships, access to more accurate city data to drive economic development, and intelligent revenue collection.

However, cities need to invest in intelligent technologies that enable the seamless collection, processing, storing and application of a broad range of data. A business technology platform that can easily integrate new technologies and provide a single source of truth to policy-makers can help optimise decision-making and ensure citizens remain at the centre of city plans, initiatives and interventions.

Investing in intelligent technologies such as IoT and experience management tools can give cities access to broader data sets, which can be mined for insights using AI and advanced analytics. And using cloud technologies can help provide ready access to critical services even during times of heightened disruption, while offering opportunities for scaling services to new citizens or regions as needed.

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