Take a drive through Soweto, Mamelodi or Khayelitsha and ask yourself a difficult question: Are these vibrant communities being equipped for the digital future, or are they still trapped in their apartheid-era role as mere dormitory settlements?
The uncomfortable truth is that decades after the end of apartheid and its separate development policy, SA’s townships remain economically marginalised.
Discriminatory laws that kept townships underdeveloped have been vanquished, but the lack of affordable digital infrastructure keeps residents disconnected from the modern economy.
Today, while we see new shopping malls being built in townships, there is a clear absence of fibre networks, tech hubs or digital government services that would allow these communities to participate in the digital economy.
For example, the government partners with banks to offer smart IDs in the central business district and selected shopping malls in the suburbs, but inexplicably, these services are not available in township branches. As a result, township residents have to travel long distances at a cost to access such services.
The digital divide we see today is nothing less than Economic Apartheid 2.0.
The consequences are severe. Small businesses are unable to compete in e-commerce, students can’t access online learning, and young professionals are locked out of remote work opportunities. This unacceptable anomaly became evident during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.
SA has acquired advanced tech to enable internet speeds comparable in the developed world, but again, the access is uneven.
While townships get free megabytes of data at Wi-Fi hotspots, the limitations are such that innovators can’t even use it to develop an app.
In that regard, the private sector failures add to government shortcomings.
Telecom giants profit enormously from township residents yet invest little in local digital infrastructure. Banks and retailers build ATMs, but they don’t support digital skills development in townships.
The cruel irony is that fibreoptic cables often pass through townships on their way to leafy suburbs without connecting the communities they physically traverse.
Real economic empowerment requires more than shopping malls and RDP houses. It also requires fibre rollout in all areas and subsidised internet access to break the cost barrier. This means the government must leverage its ownership of Telkom, Sentech and Broadband Infraco to deliver affordable connectivity where it's needed most.
If people living in the suburbs can renew their car licences online in the comfort of their cosy homes, why must township residents still queue in the cold for hours at understaffed offices for the same service?
The path forward is clear but requires political will.
The government must mandate fibre rollout in townships through smart regulation and incentives.
There is an obvious need to transform high-traffic areas such as taxi ranks into free Wi-Fi zones.
Digital government services must become equally available in all residential areas.
Most importantly, we must reject the dangerous notion that shopping malls constitute meaningful development when they don’t provide pathways into the digital economy.
SA stands at a crossroads.
If town planners continue building malls while neglecting digital infrastructure, this type of development will perpetuate an apartheid-style crude agenda that excludes others.
Anything less than full inclusion isn’t just unfair — it’s a betrayal of our constitutional promise and a recipe for continued economic stagnation.
The digital economy isn’t coming, it’s already here.
The only question remaining is whether we’ll allow townships to participate in it.
To do so the government must bring townships fully into the digital age to finally transform them from miserable dormitory settlements into hubs of innovation and economic activity.
• Lourie is editor and founder of Tech Financials.
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