Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi has warned that "digital-first" must not become "digital-only", as he addressed digital exclusion and the erosion of public trust at the recent Social Media Summit for Government in Johannesburg.
Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi and Lorato Tshenkeng, founder and CEO of Decode. in conversation during the Social Media Summit for Government (Image supplied)
Convened by Decode., a pan-African reputation advisory and strategic communications firm, in partnership with the Johannesburg Business School, where the Summit took place from 8 to 9 July, the fourth Summit brought together public sector leaders, communicators, policymakers, academics, technologists, journalists and content creators under the theme Reimagining Citizen Engagement through Human Intelligence + Artificial Intelligence.
The Summit was also endorsed by the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (Prisa).
2 challenges
The theme was chosen to confront two challenges now converging in government and public-sector communication.
- A digital divide hardening into a democratic divide
As public services and public information migrate online, citizens without affordable data, capable devices or meaningful connectivity are not merely inconvenienced – they are excluded from the information, services and participation on which democratic citizenship depends.
- A deepening trust deficit
Synthetic media, misinformation and manipulated content now move faster than credible public information and often reach excluded communities first.
It was these two fault lines Malatsi addressed directly in the Summit’s keynote."A promise made only to the connected is not a promise to the nation," the Minister told delegates.
"If the digital state works beautifully for those with good smartphones, affordable data, high literacy, strong connectivity, English fluency and confidence online, then we have not built a digital state. We have built a premium service layer for the already included."
Malatsi drew attention to "the intelligence we fail to gather when a citizen cannot get online to be heard, the young person who cannot afford data to search for an opportunity, the small business owner who receives public information too late to act, and the citizen spoken about in dashboards, reports and analytics but never meaningfully connected.
"You cannot listen to a citizen you have not connected to. And you cannot serve a citizen you cannot hear," he says.
He warned that moving public services onto digital channels without closing the divide would not democratise the state.
"Digital-first quietly becomes digital-only."
Platforms to take responsibility
On AI, he cautioned that "human intelligence plus artificial intelligence cannot mean simply using AI to automate the old habits of government. We cannot simply digitise inefficiency.
"In a pointed message to technology platforms, the Minister called for robust self-regulation that is responsive to South Africa’s constitutional values, languages and social realities, with a clear caveat.
"Partnership cannot mean that government carries the public-interest burden while platforms carry only the commercial upside.
"We will regulate where necessary. But we would much rather see platforms take responsibility before regulation becomes unavoidable."
Government comms not a decoration
Lorato Tshenkeng, founder and CEO of Decode., says the Minister’s address captured the Summit’s purpose.
"For four years, this Summit has argued that government communication is not decoration after a decision has been made; it is infrastructure.
“It is how a democratic state listens, explains, accounts for and adapts. The measure of a digital state is not its dashboards.
“It is whether it reaches the citizen who has been excluded, unheard or priced out.
“That is the power shift this theme demands: from broadcasting to citizens to building trust with them, with AI as an instrument of inclusion rather than a faster way to leave people behind."
Prisa’s vital role
Tshenkeng also acknowledged Prisa’s stewardship of the profession.
"As the industry’s professional body, Prisa plays a vital role in advancing ethical standards for the use of AI, upholding professional excellence, and ensuring that communicators are at the forefront of responsible, human-centred adoption of AI, thereby safeguarding trust and enabling innovation."
Prisa president Dr Caroline Azionya told delegates that as synthetic media, smear campaigns and digital manipulation increasingly shape public discourse, communicators face mounting pressure to safeguard their credibility.
Against a backdrop of overlapping geopolitical crises and declining citizen confidence, she argues that the profession has a critical role in fostering transparency, countering misinformation and rebuilding trust through ethical, authentic engagement.
A programme built for the AI inflexion point
Across keynotes, panels, fireside conversations, and practical breakout sessions, the programme examined AI in the public sector, responsible technology use, digital storytelling, ethics, citizen participation, attention economics, and the shifting relationship between social media and journalism.
In one of the Summit’s standout sessions, Professor JJ Tabane led a discussion with Qaanitah Hunter, founding editor of The DeBrief Network, and Phumi Mashigo, a founding member of Podcast Party, about the disruption of mainstream newsrooms.
The panel argued that traditional media have increasingly spoken to audiences rather than with them, while podcasts have grown by building active, loyal communities. Delegates noted that this lesson applies as much to government communication as to journalism.
Summit outcomes: From conversation to capability
Delegates further committed to deeper collaboration among government, academia, technology companies, and media and communications professionals to ensure that AI enhances rather than diminishes democratic participation.
The Summit closed with a concrete commitment to institutionalising its mission through a strategic partnership with JBS to introduce a dedicated short learning programme in government and public sector communication and to launch a set of prestigious awards in 2027.
The Summit concluded with a strong consensus: unless artificial intelligence is deliberately harnessed to include citizens the government currently cannot hear, and unless public services become easier to access only for citizens who are already connected, digitally confident and able to afford data, South Africa's digital transformation will fail to fulfil its democratic promise.
