--- title: South Africa puts data centres on par with energy, ports... description: South Africa's finance minister Enoch Godongwana has declared data centre infrastructure as strategically critical as electricity, ports, and transport... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-puts-data-centres-on-par-with-energy-ports-in-big-policy-shift-dx9ipru4f twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: South Africa puts data centres on par with energy, ports in big policy shift | daily.dev og:description: South Africa's finance minister Enoch Godongwana has declared data centre infrastructure as strategically critical as electricity, ports, and transport... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-puts-data-centres-on-par-with-energy-ports-in-big-policy-shift-dx9ipru4f og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/DX9IpRu4f.png og:image:alt: South Africa puts data centres on par with energy, ports in big policy shift og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # South Africa puts data centres on par with energy, ports in big policy shift **[TechCentral](https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary South Africa's finance minister Enoch Godongwana has declared data centre infrastructure as strategically critical as electricity, ports, and transport networks in his 2026 budget speech. National Treasury will explore incentives to expand data centre investment, potentially including special economic zone tax benefits (15% vs 27% corporate tax), accelerated depreciation, and priority grid connections. The announcement comes amid a major data centre building boom: over 55 facilities already built, R50-billion in investment expected over three years, with major players including Microsoft (R5.4-billion committed), Google (first African cloud region in Johannesburg), AWS, Teraco, and Vantage Data Centers all active in the market. The biggest constraint remains electricity supply, and the policy signal could unlock streamlined power approvals and dedicated grid allocations for the sector. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [US-listed data centre operator Equinix doubles down on South Africa](https://daily.dev/posts/us-listed-data-centre-operator-equinix-doubles-down-on-south-africa-r7qd6sryw) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Green light for massive new Cape Town data centres](https://daily.dev/posts/green-light-for-massive-new-cape-town-data-centres-zavbm1rpo) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [South Africa’s biggest data centres, ranked](https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-s-biggest-data-centres-ranked-dabkx27y9) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#cloud](https://daily.dev/tags/cloud) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-puts-data-centres-on-par-with-energy-ports-in-big-policy-shift-dx9ipru4f) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"South Africa puts data centres on par with energy, ports in big policy shift","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-puts-data-centres-on-par-with-energy-ports-in-big-policy-shift-dx9ipru4f","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-puts-data-centres-on-par-with-energy-ports-in-big-policy-shift-dx9ipru4f"},"datePublished":"2026-02-25T13:11:41.340Z","dateModified":"2026-02-26T16:58:58.954Z","description":"South Africa's finance minister Enoch Godongwana has declared data centre infrastructure as strategically critical as electricity, ports, and transport...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/f4a2e1d1d2e14bcae51525543556b0d2?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/f4a2e1d1d2e14bcae51525543556b0d2?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCentral","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCentral","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--RsqLDZrL--/f_auto/v1717745297/logos/techcentral","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-puts-data-centres-on-par-with-energy-ports-in-big-policy-shift-dx9ipru4f","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai,cloud","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCentral","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"South Africa puts data centres on par with energy, ports in big policy shift"}]} ```