AI

INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY

Smangele Nkosi, General Manager of Cisco South Africa

Commenting on discussions at the 20th edition of GovTech, Nkosi said the country’ s Digital Transformation agenda must move beyond planning towards practical implementation, supported by secure networks, well-governed data and public trust.

During the event, Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi called for greater focus on executing South Africa’ s digital transformation strategy. The State Information Technology Agency( SITA) also introduced a Progress Tracker to measure delivery across sovereign cloud, AI governance, interoperability, cybersecurity and connectivity.

A draft national AI policy is expected to be presented to Cabinet by March 2027.

Nkosi emphasised that successful AI adoption depends on two critical factors: resilient infrastructure and confidence in the security of digital services.

Cisco’ s AI Readiness Index revealed that 31 % of South African organisations reported that their networks could not scale to accommodate AI-related data volumes, while only 16 % successfully moved AI pilot projects into production.

According to Nkosi, establishing a shared reference architecture for AI, data and automation could help government departments overcome these challenges. Common standards for storing, sharing and securing information would also enable successful solutions to be replicated across public services.

She highlighted the South African Revenue Service’ s automated tax assessment system as an example of technology improving service delivery, with more than six million taxpayers assessed through the system this year and refunds processed within 72 hours.

Cybersecurity and trust will be equally important as government services become increasingly digital.

Cisco’ s State of Wireless 2026 research found that 83 % of South African organisations had experienced at least one wireless security incident during the previous year, while one-third reported losing customer trust as a result.

Nkosi said protecting personal information and embedding security into digital services from the outset would be essential to encouraging citizens to adopt online government platforms, particularly digital identity, payment and data exchange systems.

She also highlighted the business benefits of treating network infrastructure as a strategic investment.

Cisco research indicated that organisations addressing network complexity, security and skills together achieved a 63 % higher return on network investments. Meanwhile, 67 % of South

African organisations that prioritised their networks strategically reported productivity improvements.

However, skills shortages remain a significant obstacle. Cisco’ s AI research found that 84 % of South African organisations struggled to recruit the specialists required to support AI and cybersecurity initiatives.

Nkosi said technology providers must work with government to strengthen local capabilities through skills transfer, localisation and open standards.

She noted that more than 600,000 South Africans had received training through the Cisco Networking Academy, reflecting the importance of developing domestic digital expertise alongside infrastructure investment.

Looking ahead, Nkosi said secure and interoperable digital infrastructure could enable government agencies to accelerate grant payments, improve procurement oversight, reduce administrative processing times and strengthen municipal service delivery.

She emphasised that collaboration between government and industry would be essential to translating AI investments into measurable economic and social benefits.

According to Nkosi, digital sovereignty should extend beyond technology ownership to encompass citizens’ rights, economic development and confidence in public services.

Building resilient infrastructure, strengthening cybersecurity and developing local skills would therefore be critical to ensuring South Africa’ s AI ambitions translate into sustainable outcomes for businesses and citizens. • www. intelligentcio. com

INTELLIGENT CIO AFRICA

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