G20 South Africa commits to advancing digital public infrastructure globally

DPI involves giving everybody electricity & internet, making them sign up for digital ID, and getting them hooked on programmable payment systems: perspective

South Africa’s G20 presidency commits to advancing Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) from consensus to collective action globally.

Just as the World Bank Global Digital Summit last month, and the UN Summit of the Future last September, the G20 is pushing the global agenda to get everyone on the planet connected to the internet in order to install DPI.

DPI is a civic technology stack consisting of digital identity, fast payment systems, and massive data exchanges between public and private entities.

On April 7, 2025 South Africa’s Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi, gave the keynote speech at the second G20 Digital Economy Working Group meeting in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.

Malatsi said that the G20 would move from consensus to collective action on digital transformation by focusing on four key pillars:

• Bridging the digital divide with meaningful connectivity
• Building inclusive digital public infrastructure,
• Nurturing innovation ecosystems for local development,
• Championing ethical AI that respects our diverse languages, cultures, and values.

“South Africa and the G20 have identified DPI as a strategic priority for advancing inclusion and enabling innovation”

G20 Digital Economy Working Group Meeting, April 2025

“We cannot allow a new form of digital inequality to take hold in our world. We need to unite our efforts, North and South, public and private, to invest in connectivity for all”

G20 Digital Economy Working Group Meeting, April 2025

The first pillar, “Bridging the digital divide with meaningful connectivity,” requires providing internet to the estimated 2.9 billion people that still don’t have access globally.

That number is up from last September at the UN Summit of the Future, where International Telecommunications Union (ITU) secretary general Doreen Bogdan-Martin said that 2.6 billion people were without internet, and to bring them online would have an estimated cost of $1.6 trillion.

“Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) […] includes platforms for e-government, digital identity, electronic payments, public broadband, and open digital goods. These are the core infrastructure of modern governance and service delivery”

G20 Digital Economy Working Group Meeting, April 2025

Once everyone is connected to the internet, the second pillar is to then install “inclusive Digital Public Infrastructure.”

DPI starts with digital identity, which links to programmable fast payment systems like Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), stablecoins, and tokenized deposits, with all the data from these systems being shared between the public and private sectors.

The road to Digital Public Infrastructure is pretty straightforward:

• Access to electricity: People can’t access the internet or use devices without electricity, and AI data centers require massive amounts of energy to run
• Internet connectivity for all: You can’t build a digital control grid without having everybody connected to the internet
• Install Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI): Once everyone has electricity and is connected to the internet, then the digital control grid can be built through DPI (digital ID, fast payments systems like programmable digital currencies, and massive data sharing)

“South Africa believes strongly in cultivating inclusive innovation ecosystems where micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and startups can thrive and where new ideas from all segments of society can flourish”

G20 Digital Economy Working Group Meeting, April 2025

The third pillar for the G20’s digital transformation agenda, “nurturing innovation ecosystems for local development,” is about supporting small businesses with financing initiatives, innovation hubs, and tech parks while simplifying regulatory burdens and providing mentorship networks.

With the right support, these small businesses may innovate to the point where they become the next big thing in tech, or thrive long enough to see themselves acquired by large corporations with globalist interests.

“If we want a truly global digital economy, we must ensure that innovation knows no borders – that brilliant ideas from Africa, Asia, or Latin America can find the resources and support to grow,” said Minister Malatsi.

“We must investigate how AI can help us achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. How can it improve healthcare, education, agriculture, and governance. And equally, how do we prevent AI from causing harm – whether through bias, misinformation, or concentration of power”

G20 Digital Economy Working Group Meeting, April 2025

Finally, the fourth pillar that the G20 is focusing on is “championing ethical AI that respects our diverse languages, cultures, and values.”

According to Malatsi, “A core theme under South Africa’s presidency is ‘AI for sustainable development and inequality reduction,'” which also includes fighting so-called “misinformation.”

“The Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change responds to the commitment in the Global Digital Compact, adopted by United Nations Members States at the Summit of the Future in September 2024, which encourages UN entities, in collaboration with Governments and relevant stakeholders, to assess the impact of mis- and disinformation on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals”

G20 Leaders Summit, November 2024

Last year, the G20 in Brazil launched the “Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change” as an attempt “to address disinformation campaigns that are delaying and derailing climate action.”

In the name of “information integrity” any narrative that could impede upon the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to be stamped out.

According to the Brazil G20 Leaders Summit 2024, “The Initiative responds to the commitment in the Global Digital Compact, adopted by United Nations Members States at the Summit of the Future in September 2024, which encourages UN entities, in collaboration with Governments and relevant stakeholders, to assess the impact of mis- and disinformation on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

At the time UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres remarked that member states must work together to crush climate disinformation.

“We must fight the coordinated disinformation campaigns impeding global progress on climate change, ranging from outright denial to greenwashing to harassment of climate scientists. Through this Initiative, we will work with researchers and partners to strengthen action against climate disinformation”

Antonio Guterres, G20 Leaders Summit, November 2024

Concluding his speech at the G20 Digital Economy Working Group earlier this month, Minister Malatsi remarked:

“The digital divide, if unaddressed, will become the new face of global inequality. But if addressed through cooperation, the digital revolution can drive unprecedented inclusion and equity.

“Let us recognize that no single government or sector can do this alone. The private sector, academia, civil society, technical communities – all are vital partners in this journey.” 

All roads lead to Digital Public Infrastructure on the global stage.

Give everybody electricity, get them connected to the internet, make them sign up for digital ID, and get them hooked on programmable digital payment systems.

Once everyone is under the digital surveillance and control grid of DPI, crushing dissent is as easy as flicking a switch on an individual’s digital ID to place restrictions on what they can say, how they can conduct business, where they can travel, and their ability to transact monetarily.

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Image Source G20.org: South Africa’s Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi speaks at the second meeting of the G20 Digital Economy Working Group, April 7, 2025