When you are in contact with a reality that unfolds from theory to practice, it can be painful but also rewarding. Away from the tidy process of research design to a muddy space of practice terrorises even the boldest. The thesis of Zeenat Ishmail played into GovChat founder Eldrid Jordaan’s scheme. It captured the moment of challenges and reality lived. This article raises the question of how data can be strategically positioned. This has been my misgiving since the advent of the data revolution. The governance can be very challenging. Jordaan shows how he went through the hoops and loops while Ishmail sets the kinds of questions to be posed.
On July 22 I had the pleasure of attending a graduation ceremony of one of my former employees who was capped with a PhD at the University of Johannesburg. The topic Ishmail researched and presented for her PhD was “Data Governance in Public Sector: A Data Governance Model for the Strategic Use of Data at the Sub-National Level”. I also had an opportunity to meet Dr Ros Hirschowitz, one of my former deputies at Stats SA who was simply indefatigable and dedicated her energies to building the organisation. She also had a hand in promoting Ishmail's doctoral thesis.
My comments on the proposal were that it focuses on the public sector and draws from experiences in this sphere, in particular the national statistics offices and the accompanying and evolving national statistics systems. The proposal elucidates the purpose of data and raises the intractable challenges in this industry, in particular those in Africa.
Taking the Western Cape’s example and effort as a subnational sphere that has immersed itself in answering the question of data governance is important, and the experiences will enlighten as to under what set of conditions in different contexts appropriate governance architecture might succeed. The basics have been captured more generally, but there are glaring gaps in the framing of the governance model, and it will be appropriate to capture this. The incentives for data systems and who mobilises these incentives is crucial. Monetisation of data creates markets that drift from the notion that data is a public good. Can the commons as envisaged in the fundamental principles remain applicable and what are the emerging challenges?
The incentives for data systems and who mobilises the incentives is crucial. Monetisation of data creates markets that drift from the notion that data is a public good.
The topic was very relevant for these reasons and a number that have emerged in practice as the thesis evolved. First it is because I was one of the 25-person team that was appointed by Ban Ki-moon, the former secretary-general of the United Nations, in 2014 to define the phenomena of the data revolution. Second, I was pleased that a former employee of Stats SA decided to take the subject on the data revolution and explore what it means in practice. In particular, that she immersed herself in the subnational sphere was quite bold and encouraging. Third because the fears I had on data revolution were manifest already in the courts of law in South Africa, and Jordaan was experiencing this first hand.
The aim of the study was to develop a public sector data governance model to increase the use of data to enable data-driven decision-making that results in societal changes. The study will address the design of core elements, the associated practices and the institutional arrangements to institutionalise data governance.
The study by Ishmail explored three research objectives:
- To investigate data governance across selected countries to solicit current data governance elements, practices and collaboration mechanisms.
- To explore the development of a data governance model for the public sector to increase the use of quality data for better decision-making.
- To conduct an empirical validation of the public-sector data governance model for application at subnational level.
The following main research question was to be addressed:
- What is the nature and design of a viable data governance model for institutionalisation at a subnational level to increase the use of quality data to inform decision-making?
The study also had the following three sub-questions:
- What are the desired minimum core elements for a viable data governance model?
- How can these desired core elements be institutionalised as data governance practices across governments?
- How can institutional collaboration across governments enable the increase in the use of quality data to inform decision-making?
I mulled over the data governance model for Africa given its state of vulnerability. The continent has hitherto not developed laws and instruments that litigate in a manner that the big tech companies get taken to task as is the case in the Americas and in Europe.
As the chair of the African Symposium for Statistical Development I had brought the matter to the attention of the African heads of state, that without the necessary safeguards for developing nations, Africa and its citizens are the next breakfast, lunch and dinner for the developed world. Theirs is to choose the restaurant from which they can have their cuisine. Therefore, the thesis provides an intellectual discourse pathway to data governance among unequal partners. Jordaan adds a practice-based path to this evolving challenge.
While Jordaan of GovChat took on the big boys in a case of their anticompetitive behaviour, it was at a big cost. He said: “My dream for GovChat was to be able to connect citizens with government, and I did that. That dream has now turned into a nightmare.”
It took Jordaan's innate activist genes from his late trade unionist father to take the big guys on. He had this to say as he saw light at the end of the tunnel: “GovChat eventually came out victorious when the Competition Commission referred Meta Platforms and its subsidiaries, WhatsApp and Facebook South Africa, to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution for abuse of dominance. This latest decision by the tribunal allows GovChat to participate in the alleged abuse of market dominance hearings.
Jordaan believes the outcome of the case has the potential to set another precedent.
“From a legal perspective, the fact that GovChat will participate in this has already set a precedent. Regulators around the world are watching this matter really closely ... it has massive effects if it is not addressed by Facebook properly.”
As for GovChat, Jordaan believes the platform still has a future. “I founded it and it was co-created with the South African government; it has agreements with Cogta, the department of health and Sassa.
“It is a legislative requirement in parliament, which states municipalities and provinces must implement GovChat. It is a public participation tool and it’s the official citizen engagement platform for the South African government.”
That the systems that Jordaan built are co-created with government makes Ismail’s research more potent as regards the matters governance. Jordaan added that these systems are government systems and government must use the ID systems to integrate different facets of data, after all the ID is a government document made available to citizens to interact with government.
The path-breaking legal fight Jordaan has pursued successfully opens new ways for how African governments position themselves in relation to the fast-paced world of data revolution, and Ishmail would benefit a lot from Jordaan’s experience on how in the coal face the battles of governance are won. Here is how Jordaan looks into the future based on the gains of victory he has achieved: “Every legal course that we’ve taken, we have won. It’s four-zero, if you count what we had to go through and millions of rand’ worth of legal fees to get to this point.”
Dr Pali Lehohla is a professor of practice at the University of Johannesburg, a research associate at Oxford University, a board member of Institute for Economic Justice at Wits and a distinguished alumni of the University of Ghana. He is the former statistician-general of South Africa
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