Note to Editors: Please find an English soundbite from DA MPL, Mike Waters here.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng has noted the confirmation by the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) that it has suffered a data breach affecting its systems.
This breach raises serious questions about the ability of the GPG to protect sensitive information and critical digital infrastructure used by departments across the province.
Even more alarming is that the breach occurred despite repeated warnings about the deteriorating state of the province’s digital infrastructure by the DA Gauteng.
Internal assessments by the Gauteng Department of e-Government have confirmed that 70% of the provincial network devices have already reached end-of-service. This means that they no longer receive technical support, spare parts, or critical security updates.
In addition, core network infrastructure reached its end-of-life in December 2024, leaving government systems increasingly vulnerable to faults, system failures and cybersecurity threats.
Despite these warnings, Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s government has failed to prioritise the upgrading of its digital infrastructure.
Instead, the Gauteng Department of e-Government has been diverted away from its core mandate of building and securing provincial digital systems and has increasingly been used to support politically driven projects.
Over the past few years, the GPG has spent hundreds of millions of rands on technology projects that fall outside the core mandate of e-Government. These include large-scale CCTV surveillance systems, drones and a panic-button application for community safety initiatives.
While these projects may generate political headlines, they do little to address the fundamental responsibility of government to secure and maintain the digital backbone of the provincial administration.
At the same time, billions of rands have been committed to outsourced IT infrastructure and telecommunications contracts across the province, raising serious questions about oversight, value for money and whether these arrangements are effectively protecting provincial data systems.
A government that fails to maintain and secure its digital infrastructure places not only its own operations at risk but also the personal data and information of millions of residents who rely on provincial systems.
The DA Gauteng will pursue this matter further through the Legislature, seeking detailed answers from the MEC for e-Government, Bonginkosi Dhlamini, regarding the nature and extent of the breach, what data may have been compromised, and if residents’ personal information has been exposed.
A DA-led Gauteng provincial government would ensure that e-Government delivers on its core mandate of ensuring that all government departments’ technology is up to date and that we do not have a situation where devices reach the end of their lifespan and are not replaced.
Every resident of Gauteng deserves a government that takes the protection of public infrastructure and personal data seriously.
The breach we are seeing today should not be treated as an isolated incident. It is the predictable consequence of years of neglect, misplaced priorities and weak oversight. If the Gauteng Government cannot protect its own systems, residents are right to ask how we can trust that government will protect the interests of the people of Gauteng.