The National Treasury has launched the MzansiXchange pilot, the data exchange pillar of South Africa’s Roadmap for the Digital Transformation of Government, which was officially unveiled in May.

The roadmap outlines four pillars – data exchange, digital identity, digital payments and digital services – collectively providing a single digital entry point for accessing government services.

Supporting the broader MyMzansi initiative, the one-year pilot will test the MzansiXchange in real-world conditions, strengthening the foundations for a broader national rollout.

It will connect digital identity, payments and services, says National Treasury director- general Dr Duncan Pieterse.

This will help streamline administrative processes, thereby improving service delivery and reducing delays, and enable government institutions to securely access relevant, verified information already held by other departments. This reduces duplication and makes it easier for citizens, who will no longer have to repeatedly provide the same details when accessing services.

It will also support greater efficiency and cost savings by eliminating redundant systems and enabling faster fraud detection and empower policymakers by making timely data available to inform planning and decision-making.

While data is the backbone of digital transformation and inclusive service delivery – similar to road, electricity and water infrastructure – the South African government data landscape has been characterised by fragmentation, siloed systems and limited interoperability.

“These challenges have constrained our ability to make evidence-based decisions, deliver integrated services, allocate resources efficiently and build public trust in government systems. MzansiXchange addresses these gaps by enabling secure, structured and coordinated data sharing across government,” Pieterse says.

Building on the National Treasury’s Secure Data Facility and Spatial Economic Activity Data South Africa, the pilot follows the completion of the due diligence and design phase in 2024, which focused on finding the best technical architecture, prototyping secure data access systems, assessing the legal and governance landscapes, and engaging stakeholders across government.

It also informed the pilot’s scope and design.

While MzansiXchange is not a central repository and stores no data, it acts as a secure, governed exchange, allowing departments to retain ownership while sharing with other authorised entities when needed.

This approach balances departmental data sovereignty with secure, across-government data sharing through a structured and governed framework.

“Our prototype has been built with X-road as the foundational technology for the MzansiXchange, supporting flexible mechanisms and enhancing resilience with robust design, ensuring standards harmonisation, digital inclusion and long-term sustainability.”

MzansiXchange will have governance frameworks, standardised data protocols and will set clear expectations for metadata standards, data quality and interoperability.

It will provide standardised legal instruments, such as memoranda of understanding or service level agreements, to guide secure and compliant data sharing.

MzansiXchange will provide four distinct data access components, each designed to meet the needs of different users.

The first pillar is data sharing for regulation, compliance and verification, giving authorised public entities real-time access to identifiable data.

Pieterse cites securely verifying key information when enrolling citizens into public programmes or grants.

The second pillar is data sharing for evidence-based policymaking, planning and research.

For example, de-identified administrative data, such as education outcomes, tax records or social protection information, can be securely shared with a secure data facility. This enables researchers and policymakers to generate insights that support more targeted, evidence-based decision-making and planning.

The third pillar is data sharing for operational analytics.

This facilitates bulk transfers of both de-identified and identifiable data between public sector institutions to support service delivery and the fulfilment of operational mandates.

The last pillar is open access data sharing, which enables users to explore data catalogues, dashboards, data stories, download aggregated datasets and view metadata through secure protocols.