Government’s flagship broadband programme, SA Connect, was effectively frozen for most of the past financial year after funding the communications department had been counting on failed to arrive on time – with the in-year allocation collapsing from an expected R1.1-billion to just R116-million.
Communications & digital technologies director-general Nonkqubela Jordan-Dyani told parliament’s portfolio committee on communications earlier this month that the department had applied for a rollover of about R1.1-billion for SA Connect phase 2, but that the programme was suspended for much of the 2025/2026 year because of changes to financial reporting systems and delays in approvals.
The money only became available in January 2026, leaving barely a quarter of the year in which to spend it.
Even then, implementation was hamstrung. Jordan-Dyani said equipment had to be sourced from overseas and that conflict in the Middle East had disrupted shipments, with hardware arriving only towards the end of March – the final month of the financial year. Because installation, network activation and connectivity all had to be completed before suppliers could be paid, the late deliveries fed straight into the department’s underspend.
The department spent R3.61-billion of its R3.74-billion budget, with the shortfall attributed mainly to the stalled SA Connect phase 2 roll-out and funded but vacant posts. On performance, it achieved 63% of its annual targets in the third quarter, improving to 81% in the fourth.
Social obligations programme
SA Connect has a long history of missed deadlines, having first been conceived of more than a decade ago. Cabinet approved the revised phase 2 model in 2022, setting a target of 100% broadband access for selected communities and government facilities within 36 months – a window that closed at the end of FY2026 with the goal still well out of reach.
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The department nonetheless reported progress on the ground, telling MPs that 7 397 public facilities had been connected during the year, ahead of target, and that Wi-Fi deployment had reached 101% of its goal. Jordan-Dyani put the number of sites connected “through the social obligations programme” – funds provided by commercial telecommunications operators in return for radio frequency spectrum licences – at about 7 500. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media