In this ‘data play’ nothing is mahala!

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has a poor record of protecting vulnerable grant recipients from the predatory conduct of private actors that seek to profit from access to their data. Who can forget how it failed to hold Net1 and CPS to account for their abuse of the grants process? This failure is a stark warning that the digitalisation process led by SASSA with new partners requires far greater scrutiny. Already, ‘Big Data’ global corporations like Meta (Facebook/WhatsApp) and smaller local companies are making a play for the future of this new frontier in South Africa.

The findings of Open Secrets’ investigation illuminates some of the private actors involved in South Africa’s move to becoming a ‘digital welfare state’. The investigative report, Digital Profiteers: Who Profits Next from Social Grants, focuses on how the digitalisation of state services offers opportunities for corporations to generate excessive profits from digital systems that can harm vulnerable people.