Introduce digital payments for cost-effective and dignified transactions.
Establish a payment bridge and switch to enable seamless transactions with government.

No data available for the deliverable: Establish a payment bridge and switch to enable seamless transactions with government.

Summary

Digital payments form another key pillar of the digital infrastructure roadmap. The digital payments project will expand payment options for government, people and organisations. This will make it easier and safer for people, especially those in underserved areas, to access their payments and transact digitally.This utility will support real-time payments and integrate various payment methods such as QR codes, phone numbers, vouchers and others to enable seamless transactions. A centralised public payments utility (PPU) will serve as the backbone of the modernised payments ecosystem. Work on the ground is expected to begin in 2026.

Canvas not supported.

Is it working?

This is yet is yet to commence. In terms of timelines, government expects to: • Conduct a cost-benefit analysis on the feasibility of a domestic card payment scheme, with a focus on potential applications for social grant recipients (Q4 2026) • Begin rolling out a digital financial identity solution (Q4 2026) • Establishing a Public Payments Utility for transaction processing (Q4 2030)

Actions

No related projects currently taking place (National Treasury). In terms of timelines, government expects to provide access to research-quality instances of the datasets connected in the data exchange pilot in the SDF (Q4 2026).

Are there plans?

It is aligned with the digital transformation infrastructure roadmap (2025) and forms part of SARB's Payments Ecosystem Modernisation (PEM) Programme.

Is it on the agenda?

Falls under the Operation Vulindlela Phase 2.0 agenda.

Goals

Th digital payments project aims to expand payment options for government, people and organisations, making it easier and safer for people for people in underserved areas to access their payments and transact digitally. One of the goals of the project is to develop a centralised public payments utility (PPU) that will serve as the backbone of the modernised payments ecosystem.

Summary

Digital payments form another key pillar of the digital infrastructure roadmap. The digital payments project will expand payment options for government, people and organisations. This will make it easier and safer for people, especially those in underserved areas, to access their payments and transact digitally.This utility will support real-time payments and integrate various payment methods such as QR codes, phone numbers, vouchers and others to enable seamless transactions. A centralised public payments utility (PPU) will serve as the backbone of the modernised payments ecosystem. Work on the ground is expected to begin in 2026.

Canvas not supported.

Is it working?

This is yet is yet to commence. In terms of timelines, government expects to: • Conduct a cost-benefit analysis on the feasibility of a domestic card payment scheme, with a focus on potential applications for social grant recipients (Q4 2026) • Begin rolling out a digital financial identity solution (Q4 2026) • Establishing a Public Payments Utility for transaction processing (Q4 2030)

Actions

No related projects currently taking place (National Treasury). In terms of timelines, government expects to provide access to research-quality instances of the datasets connected in the data exchange pilot in the SDF (Q4 2026).

Are there plans?

It is aligned with the digital transformation infrastructure roadmap (2025) and forms part of SARB's Payments Ecosystem Modernisation (PEM) Programme.

Is it on the agenda?

Falls under the Operation Vulindlela Phase 2.0 agenda.

Goals

Th digital payments project aims to expand payment options for government, people and organisations, making it easier and safer for people for people in underserved areas to access their payments and transact digitally. One of the goals of the project is to develop a centralised public payments utility (PPU) that will serve as the backbone of the modernised payments ecosystem.

No data available for the deliverable: Establish a payment bridge and switch to enable seamless transactions with government.

No data available for the deliverable: Establish a payment bridge and switch to enable seamless transactions with government.

No data available for the deliverable: Establish a payment bridge and switch to enable seamless transactions with government.

No data available for the deliverable: Establish a payment bridge and switch to enable seamless transactions with government.

Analyst: Thabani Madlala
Status: In progress
Last Updated:
Next Update:
Reform Area:
Reform:

    If you would like to alert our analysts to an update you are aware of in this particular reform area, please complete the form below and submit it to us. Please ensure you include links to any press releases or other documents to confirm the reforms and provide detail to allow our analysts to assess the changes. Our team will review it.

    Introduce payment standards and interoperability through Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS).

    No data available for the deliverable: Introduce payment standards and interoperability through Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS).

    Summary

    The end-to-end government-to-person payment system will be developed by integrating equivalent features into the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS). This will empower government departments to efficiently onboard beneficiaries and manage multi-channel payments securely. Work on the ground is expected to begin in 2027.

    Canvas not supported.

    Is it working?

    This is yet to commence.

    Actions

    No related projects currently taking place (National Treasury). In terms of timelines, government expects to: • Research the potential savings of a government payments switch (Q4 2027) • Develop a G2P payment module in IFMS (Q4 2027) • Develop a government payments switch conditional on the research results

    Are there plans?

    It is aligned with the digital transformation infrastructure roadmap (2025). Timelines have been established for particular milestones (see Actions category).

    Is it on the agenda?

    Falls under the Operation Vulindlela Phase 2.0 agenda.

    Goals

    The aim is to improve government payments by developing an end-to-end (E2E) government-to-person (G2P) payment system.

    Summary

    The end-to-end government-to-person payment system will be developed by integrating equivalent features into the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS). This will empower government departments to efficiently onboard beneficiaries and manage multi-channel payments securely. Work on the ground is expected to begin in 2027.

    Canvas not supported.

    Is it working?

    This is yet to commence.

    Actions

    No related projects currently taking place (National Treasury). In terms of timelines, government expects to: • Research the potential savings of a government payments switch (Q4 2027) • Develop a G2P payment module in IFMS (Q4 2027) • Develop a government payments switch conditional on the research results

    Are there plans?

    It is aligned with the digital transformation infrastructure roadmap (2025). Timelines have been established for particular milestones (see Actions category).

    Is it on the agenda?

    Falls under the Operation Vulindlela Phase 2.0 agenda.

    Goals

    The aim is to improve government payments by developing an end-to-end (E2E) government-to-person (G2P) payment system.

    No data available for the deliverable: Introduce payment standards and interoperability through Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS).

    No data available for the deliverable: Introduce payment standards and interoperability through Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS).

    No data available for the deliverable: Introduce payment standards and interoperability through Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS).

    No data available for the deliverable: Introduce payment standards and interoperability through Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS).

    Analyst: Thabani Madlala
    Status: In progress
    Last Updated:
    Next Update:
    Reform Area:
    Reform:

      If you would like to alert our analysts to an update you are aware of in this particular reform area, please complete the form below and submit it to us. Please ensure you include links to any press releases or other documents to confirm the reforms and provide detail to allow our analysts to assess the changes. Our team will review it.