Solly Malatsi (Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies of South Africa) at the launch for the Roadmap on the Digital Transformation of the South African Government at Gallagher Convention Centre on May 12, 2025 in Midrand, South Africa. This is a flagship initiative of the 7th Administration and a key pillar of Operation Vulindlela phase two as launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 07 May 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images / OJ Koloti) /file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/label-analysis-2.jpg)
In a perfect world, when the minister of communications and digital technologies, Solly Malatsi, framed the new devices he was handing over to social workers in Cape Town as “instruments to restore human dignity”, he would’ve had Starlink kits as part of the package.
But that world is an alternate reality. In this one, Notice 3692 of 2025 in Government Gazette No 53855 — his policy direction to Icasa on B-BBEE – reached Daily Maverick via a WhatsApp message from a Resolve Communications account manager at 15h37 — nearly two hours before the department issued any official statement. It was the Friday of the first festive long weekend in Dezemba, and this journalist had already lit the braai fire.
“I don’t know what the timing of your interaction with them [was], but I know that from our side we put it on the Government Gazette,” Malatsi said in response to Daily Maverick’s clarification questions.
“It obviously goes through the internal [approval] process in order for it to get to government printing works … there are a lot of people in that process. What they then do with it in between before it gets to the website… I have no idea how it moves.”
Quizzed about his relationship with the Resolve chair and founder Tony Leon and whether the public relations and lobbying firm had any interference in the sequence of policy direction changes that the minister was pursuing to help companies like Starlink bypass the ownership regulations, Malatsi turned the tables.
“You [referring to this journalist] have done — how many? — let me recall … you’ve done four pieces on the policy. I’ve read all of them. I spoke to you, in fact, ahead of three of those ... each and every one. If there’s anyone with the sequence of the events, it’s you.”
Fair enough.
Positive shift
Before the elephant in the room was addressed by the small media contingent, Malatsi waxed lyrical about how digitisation ensures that sensitive client records are securely stored, preventing the loss or misplacement of critical files that can disrupt vulnerable families’ lives.
The Social Work Integrated Management System (Swims) platform was launched in April 2024 as an administration tool for social workers in the Western Cape.
It has since been rolled out in targeted trials in the provincial education and health departments, with the Western Cape minister of social development, Jaco Londt, expressing his willingness to expand the platform nationally (he has already met with interested ministers).
The magic of Swims is 15 minutes
Londt illustrated the cumulative impact of the app by explaining that for the 1,600 social work professionals in the Western Cape, saving just 15 minutes per individual across an average of 100 cases frees up an enormous amount of hours that can be reinvested into client care.
All prescribed documentation is digitised, meaning client information is captured once and automatically populated across all relevant records. This eliminates the need for social workers to duplicate paperwork.
When a case is reassigned, the new social worker can immediately access and review the complete record on the system. This means they can pick up where the last person left off, sparing the client from having to repeat their story.
Annemie van Reenen, chief director for service delivery management and coordination at the Western Cape Department of Social Development, said she drew inspiration from the agricultural sector, which used a smart pen concept, in which farmers write down information on a device that automatically syncs with their main system.
She wanted to adapt this so that while a social worker was in the field doing their work, the information would feed directly back to the department.
The provincial treasury initially allocated R2-million per year for three years, with an additional R2-million provided for development (totalling R8-million).
The app acts as a procedural gatekeeper to guarantee compliance with national norms, and eliminates repetitive administrative tasks by auto-populating statutory forms.
If a social worker captures a detail once — like a father’s name — that datum automatically cascades and populates all other legislative, statutory and Child Welfare forms.
/file/attachments/orphans/IMG_20260713_112632_942119.jpg "Minister Malatsi handed over digital devices to help the Cape Town Child Welfare NGO better serve the community, (Photo: Lindsey Schutters)")
Gift of the gab
The hardware distributed consists of Mecer Android tablets, leftover stock from a Primedia donation last year. Malatsi was quick to clarify that the acquisition did not involve Mecer’s parent body, Mustek, nor did the embattled State IT Agency (Sita) have a hand in it.
The minister also emphasised that the device handover represented a collaborative effort enabled by the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, the Western Cape Department of Social Development and private-sector stakeholders.
He highlighted that the Government of National Unity had fostered a positive shift in attitude, accessibility and provincial-national alignment. He made it clear that neither government nor the non-profit sector can tackle deep-seated socioeconomic ills in isolation; limited resources make coordinated partnerships essential.
As a final word on the Resolve Communications saga, Malatsi leaned on the DA party line:
“As the DA, we always aspired for the highest standards … and if we are held to the standards that we have strived for, I think it’s fair game. Is what is happening wrong? Is what is happening illegal? If it is, then, you know, there are channels to deal with that.”
The minister makes a great point about the legality of lobbying. Everyone he deals with has an agenda, even the NGOs that get support from provincial structures that developed their own solutions in isolation.
Politics, like journalism, is a contact sport, and everyone wants the minister’s number. DM