{"id":666504,"date":"2026-09-19T12:01:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T10:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=666504"},"modified":"2026-09-19T12:01:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T10:01:34","slug":"south-africas-data-centre-boom-gets-push-from-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cloud-hosting\/666504-south-africas-data-centre-boom-gets-push-from-government.html","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s data centre boom gets push from government"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi, said that South Africa has the most data centres on the continent, and that existing facilities plan to expand their investments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding to Parliamentary questions<\/a> from DA MP Tsholofelo Bodlani, Malatsi revealed that his department and the Department of Trade were helping to drive growth in the data centre space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“South Africa currently has more data centres than any country on the continent, and existing data centres have indicated their intentions to expand their existing investments,” Malatsi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies developed the National Data and Cloud Policy to create policy certainty required to assist multinationals wishing to invest in data centres.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Minister explained that the policy was co-developed with industry players, resulting in its full endorsement by relevant stakeholders after Cabinet approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malatsi said the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition was responsible for providing incentives to encourage investment by both local and international companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Department of Communications’ role is limited to creating an appropriate regulatory environment in this regard,” the Minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding measures initiated to ensure that local economies benefit from data centre investments, Malatsi said his department has collaborative relationships with companies on skill development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is mainly done through, though not limited to, Equity Equivalent Investment Programmes (EEIPs),” Malatsi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Minister said it is important that his department creates strong working relationships with local governments to assist municipalities that host data centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Department appreciates and respects the difference in jurisdictional mandate between national and local government,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Of equal importance is the need to create strong working relationships between different spheres of government, especially where assistance can be provided by one to the other.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that this was also important, where existing service delivery structures and resources could be shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Such interactions can also help alleviate unnecessary delays that could have a negative impact on investment,” Malatsi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa building its own cloud infrastructure \u2014\u00a0Ramaphosa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of South Africa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In July 2026, President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that South Africa was investing in its own cloud infrastructure to reduce its reliance on global giants in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While he welcomed the billions invested by players like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, he emphasised that South Africa must build its own cloud capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President said these companies had invested well over R35.8 billion into the South African cloud and data centre space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa said sovereignty wasn’t measured by geographic borders, but rather by a nation’s ability to secure data, develop its own capabilities, and exercise control over its technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also highlighted the risks of allowing sensitive public and private data to be held by private companies outside of South Africa’s borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That is why government is investing in its own cloud infrastructure through institutions like the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research,” Ramaphosa stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President added that South Africa’s regulatory and policy environment must align with innovation and safety, and learn from other nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We must learn from other countries where vast amounts of sensitive public and private data have been held by private firms and outside national jurisdictions,” Ramaphosa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s plans to develop its own cloud systems date back to 2022, when former communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni announced the State Digital Infrastructure Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her announcement came after Cabinet approved a spectrum policy amendment on 10 March 2022, removing the requirement to license a wireless national wholesale open-access network (WOAN).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the amendment was not an abandonment of South Africa’s WOAN ambitions, despite a similar model failing in Mexico. Instead, the SDIC would also fulfil that role.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa hosts the most data centres on the continent and existing players plan to expand on their investments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":666510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2101250457549066398","_sma_facebook_post_id":"120850204637381_1505003148318330","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18119465194940069","_sma_threads_post_id":"17914302324465733","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1952,22807,66538,76862,69267],"class_list":["post-666504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cloud-hosting","tag-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-data-centres","tag-department-of-communications-and-digital-technologies-dcdt","tag-solly-malatsi","tag-state-digital-infrastructure-company-sdic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666504"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666504"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":666602,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666504\/revisions\/666602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}