South African Internet Governance Forum (ZAIGF) 2019 — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

On 24–25 October 2019, the South African IGF (ZAIGF) met in Mbombela, capital of Mpumalanga Province, under the theme 'Connecting the Unconnected' — the first edition confirmed to be held outside Gauteng, hosted by ZADNA.
The inaugural South African School on Internet Governance (ZASIG) ran just before it on 21–23 October, and the first Youth IGF followed in Durban that November — connectivity, capacity-building and youth arriving as a package in a single year.
Rather than discussing the unconnected from a big-city venue, the forum went to the provinces — a turning point toward a decentralised national IGF, at a time when high data prices were a burning social issue in South Africa.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on South African Internet Governance Forum (ZAIGF) 2019 draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

📍 Mbombela (formerly Nelspruit) is the capital of Mpumalanga Province — the first ZAIGF confirmed to be held outside Gauteng

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

Item	Detail
Official name	South African Internet Governance Forum (ZAIGF) 2019
Dates	24–25 October 2019
Venue	Mbombela, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa (venue not publicly recorded)
Theme	Connecting the Unconnected
Side events	The inaugural South African School on Internet Governance (ZASIG) ran alongside on 21–23 October; the first Youth IGF followed in Durban on 15 November 2019
Host	ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA)

(See the source list at the end of this article.)

Discussion Digest — from the Session Records

Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.

1. Connecting the Unconnected — Tackling the Access Gap from the Provinces

Sessions: Annual meeting (24–25 October, Mbombela)

ZADNA's annual report officially records hosting the South African IGF 'from 24–25 October 2019 in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, under the overarching theme Connecting the Unconnected' [1][4]
Moving from Johannesburg (2016, 2017) to a provincial capital signalled a shift: debating the access gap in the regions where the unconnected actually live [1][4]
The theme carried forward — ZAIGF 2021 still ran a session titled 'Universal access and connecting the unconnected', making it the series' signature issue [1][4]

2. The First ZASIG — Institutionalising Governance Capacity-Building

Sessions: South African School on Internet Governance (21–23 October)

ZADNA records hosting the inaugural South African School on Internet Governance (ZASIG) on 21–23 October, on the sidelines of the annual forum — a national counterpart to the continental AfriSIG [1][3]
The learn-then-participate design (school first, forum right after) stuck: ZASIG became a standing companion programme to the ZAIGF, running again in 2021, 2022 and 2024 [1][3]

3. Year One for Youth — The First Youth IGF and a Delegation to Berlin

Sessions: First Youth IGF (15 November, Durban) and related engagements

ZADNA partnered with Progressive Blacks in ICT (PBICT) to host the first Youth IGF in Durban on 15 November 2019, focused on the digital economy and digital inclusion [1][5]
That same November, a South African delegation led by Deputy Minister Pinky Kekana attended the global IGF in Berlin — linking the national, youth and global layers of the IGF process in one year [1][5]
It was the institutional answer to GISWatch's 2017 critique that the forum was elite and excluded the youth [1][5]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. Why Mbombela instead of Johannesburg?

A. Because the theme was 'Connecting the Unconnected' — it made sense to meet where the unconnected actually live. Rotating venues became the norm afterwards: a Limpopo university in 2022, Durban in 2025.

Q. What was new this year?

A. The forum gained a companion: the first South African School on Internet Governance (ZASIG) ran right before it, pairing capacity-building with debate — a formula the ZAIGF has kept ever since.

Q. Does this affect ordinary people?

A. Very much. High data prices were a burning issue in South Africa at the time, and connecting the unconnected is ultimately about affordability, infrastructure and education — everyday concerns, not abstractions.

What Is South Africa IGF? (for first-time readers)

South Africa IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.

Why It Matters to You

What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2019 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.