Government budgets are often complicated and technical, so simply publishing them does not necessarily make them accessible to most citizens. In South Africa, the data the government made public was static and unintegrated, and civil society actors observed that citizens were not using the data as extensively as they could. To address this, the National Treasury partnered with the civil society coalition IMALI YETHU to create an online platform called Vulekamali. Hear from one of its creators, Zuki Kota, who continues to champion open government practices to make budget information more accessible to the public.

A Quest to Open Up Budget Data

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Government budgets are often complicated and technical, so simply publishing them does not necessarily make them accessible to most citizens. In South Africa, the data the government made public was static and unintegrated, and civil society actors observed that citizens were not using the data as extensively as they could. To address this, the National … Continued

Open Money, Open Government

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Through the Treasury, the South African government has invested in opening up budget information at the national and provincial levels. This has seen South Africa becoming a global leader in the Open Budget Survey.