On 3 November 2025, on the side lines of the Global DPI Summit in Cape Town, Open Cities Lab (OCL) and eGov Foundation brought together a powerful mix of South African municipalities and ecosystem partners for a conversation that was both overdue and transformative. Supported with funding from the UK Government (UK in South Africa), the MijiBora DPI Side Event was a unique gathering where 53 participants, including 21 municipal officials from 10 municipalities spoke honestly about the realities of digital transformation and what it will take to build the cities residents deserve.
The room was grounded with opening remarks from Josephine Hetherington, the Head of Economic Development at UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of South Africa (FCDO, SA), who emphasised the need for evidence-based planning, high impact investments, and the UK’s support for local government capacity. Her framing set the stage for a day focused on practicality, collaboration, and municipal leadership.
The energy escalated with a fire starter conversation between Richard Gevers from the Digital Services Unit, The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa, and Dr Amollo Ambole from OCL. Their exchange translated Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) into the everyday life of residents: shorter queues, faster services, more inclusion, fewer bureaucratic hurdles. Richard explained how shared digital rails and interoperable services can help cities engage residents holistically rather than through siloed systems. Municipalities did not hesitate to challenge Richard as they raised concerns about localisation issues, political realities, and even the impact of electricity loadshedding on digitisation. The conversation made one thing clear: cities want to be active co-creators of the national digital strategy.
This sentiment came alive during the municipality pitches. In a series of use case presentations, each municipality articulated the practical challenges they are dealing with around fragmented data, legacy systems that don’t communicate, ageing infrastructure, revenue leaks, and manual processes that slow down critical services. Across these diverse contexts, a common message emerged. Municipalities are looking for interoperable digital tools that can help them demonstrate quick wins, strengthen service delivery, and rebuild internal confidence in their digital transformation journeys.
Partners echoed this call from municipalities during a pertinent ecosystem dialogue that highlighted how DPI is not just a technical challenge but a governance and trust challenge. OCL spoke about integration barriers that cities face across South Africa. Lauren Kahn from Public Digital argued that true transformation begins with user needs and internal capability, not software. Robert Karanja, CDFP from Co-Develop emphasised the potential of digital public goods for scalable, Africa-first solutions. Krishnakumar Thiagarajan from eGov Foundation reminded the room that technology alone cannot succeed without underlying governance structures. Shabari Shaily from UK in South Africastressed the need for strong, long-term partnerships, especially in a funding climate where governments must learn to “do more with less.” Richard from the Presidency synthesised the partners’ reflections by underscoring that cities must serve as the demand anchor for any sustainable DPI ecosystem.
Then came the moment when municipalities voiced what many had long been carrying: a call for co-creation, respect, and real agency. One official captured the sentiment with striking clarity:
‘We’re tired of being told what to do. National Government can’t keep directing us from above. We need a Community of Practice that helps us to speak for ourselves and advocate for our work.’
In this dialogue with ecosystem partners, municipal officials firmly articulated the need for a co-created DPI journey where cities shape priorities, influence national agendas, and build Communities of Practice that strengthen peer-to-peer learning. They asserted that without aligned supply chains, appropriate regulation, and coordination across all spheres of government, DPI simply cannot work.
In the afternoon, an eGov-led workshop helped participants translate DPI principles into practical solutions tailored to their contexts. Working in mixed groups, municipalities and partners defined service goals, mapped pain points, and identified both the solutions and the shared building blocks needed to realise them. The outputs ranged from grievance-redressal platforms to trade-related services, which were early illustrations of what city-led DPI can become when grounded in real service-delivery challenges and supported by implementation and policy experts.
As the day closed, municipal officials were recognised as MijiBora Champions for advancing digital transformation within their municipalities. With that energy, the next phase crystallised: making DPI work from the ground up will require coordinated action. OCL and eGov Foundation will now follow up with municipalities and partners to consolidate use cases, schedule learning sessions, identify early wins, and define the technical assistance pathways that will feed into the launch of MijiBora across Africa.
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This event was a clear signal of a broader shift toward city-first digital public infrastructure. A shift toward practical, people-centred innovation driven by those closest to service delivery. The movement has begun, and its momentum is growing. Anyone who wants to be part of this transformation is invited to join the MijiBora Community of Practice and help co-create the future of digital governance and service delivery across the continent.
