The week of 16–23 February 2026 delivered a concentrated set of technology and fintech policy developments across Southern Africa, reflecting a region that is actively modernising its digital infrastructure, financial regulatory frameworks, and data governance architecture. From landmark crypto asset reporting rules going live in South Africa to Lesotho’s culturally grounded AI strategy and Namibia’s push toward next-generation telecommunications, this edition highlights the most consequential tech and fintech policy moves of the week.
🇿🇦 SOUTH AFRICA
Crypto Asset Reporting: CARF Goes Live
Effective 1 March 2026, South Africa’s Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) will come into force following the publication of the Final External Business Requirements Specification (BRS) Version 1.5 on 16 February 2026. Under CARF, Reporting Crypto-Asset Service Providers (RCASPs) are required to perform due diligence and report crypto-asset transaction data to the South African Revenue Service (SARS). The schema documentation covers both SARS-specific requirements and OECD standard requirements, marking South Africa’s formal alignment with international tax transparency frameworks for digital assets. This is a significant milestone in South Africa’s efforts to bring the crypto asset sector within the mainstream regulatory and tax compliance perimeter.
Banking Regulation: Prime Lending Rate Cessation Proposed
The South African Reserve Bank published a consultation paper proposing the cessation of the Prime Lending Rate (PLR) as a reference rate for lending, recommending its replacement with the SARB Policy Rate (SPR). For fintechs, lenders, and any platform that prices credit products based on the PLR, this proposal has long-term structural implications. The PLR, currently fixed at 350 basis points above the SPR since 2001, is argued to be an administrative relic that no longer reflects actual credit pricing dynamics and fails to meet International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) principles for financial benchmarks. The SARB’s preferred approach, quoting lending rates directly as SPR plus a negotiated spread, is designed to enhance transparency, reduce public misconceptions about bank profit margins, and improve consumer understanding of how monetary policy affects borrowing costs. With over 12 million contracts totalling more than R3.2 trillion currently referencing the PLR, the transition is proposed to begin no earlier than 2027, following the conclusion of the Johannesburg Interbank Average Rate (JIBAR) transition. The formal public consultation period is open until 20 March 2026.
Prudential Standards: Basel III Banking Regulation Amendments
The Prudential Authority issues the directive under section 6(6) of the Banks Act 94 of 1990; the amendments follow a dual-authority process, as the regulations are formally amended by the Minister of Finance under section 90 of the same Act. The draft Government Notice removes market risk and credit valuation adjustment (CVA) capital requirements from the Regulations; provisions are migrated into dedicated Prudential Standards effective 1 July 2025 as part of South Africa’s implementation of the BCBS Basel III post-crisis reforms. The amendments are consequential in nature: on the market risk side, Regulation 28 and related provisions across Regulations 29 to 39 are either deleted or replaced with cross-references to the Prudential Standard on Market Risk; on the CVA side, the advanced approach, standardised CVA calculation, and related capital requirements are removed from Regulation 23. While this directive is aimed at banks, fintechs embedded in banking ecosystems should not dismiss it. Fintechs that partner with banks, provide compliance or technology infrastructure to banking institutions, or are on a path to obtaining a banking licence will find that as the prudential framework becomes cleaner and more standards-based, compliance expectations on bank partners, and by extension on fintechs within their ecosystems, tighten accordingly. For banks that have already aligned to the new standards, this is a housekeeping exercise. For those still referencing old frameworks, the proposed June 2026 implementation date is the prompt to act. Comments are invited by 10 April 2026.
Fintech in Resolution: Draft Liquidity Standard Published
As digital banks and fintech-adjacent institutions grow in systemic significance, the question of what happens when one fails is no longer hypothetical. The SARB’s Prudential Authority released a draft Prudential Standard RAXX on Requirements for Funding and Liquidity in Resolution, directly relevant to fintech and digital banking institutions designated under the Financial Sector Regulation Act. The standard sets out requirements for estimating and mobilising liquidity in resolution scenarios, governance frameworks, stress testing obligations, annual testing and assurance requirements, and reporting to the Reserve Bank. For fintechs holding or seeking designation as systemically important institutions, this standard defines the resilience infrastructure that regulators expect to see in place before, not during, a crisis. Comments are invited until 10 April 2026.
Digital Governance: Human Rights-Based Platform Regulation
The UNESCO roundtable on digital platform governance, convened within the framework of the 2nd International Conference on Digital Platform Governance, brought together African media regulatory authorities, including members of the African Communication Regulation Authorities Network (ACRAN) and the Francophone Network of Media Regulators (REFRAM), to provide input on ACHPR Resolutions 630 and 631, which mandate the development of continental guidelines for human rights-based digital platform governance. The guidelines, which are expected to be presented to the AU Commission in May 2026, will address technology companies’ responsibilities on information integrity, independent fact-checking mechanisms, and universal access to public service content. This is a continental regulatory framework in active development, and while its compliance implications will crystallise once adopted and implementation frameworks are established, the direction of travel is clear: African regulators are moving toward a coordinated, rights-based approach to platform governance that will sit alongside and inform national frameworks. South Africa’s participation, through Information Regulator Chairperson Adv Pansy Tlakula, signals the country’s active role in shaping this agenda. Technology companies operating digital platforms across Africa should be tracking this process closely and engaging before the guidelines are finalised, influencing outcomes at the drafting stage is significantly more effective than responding to them after adoption.
SONA 2026: Digital Transformation Commitments
President Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) earlier in the week provided a good indication and insights into where public sector demand is heading. The address confirmed the launch of a Digital ID, the rollout of the MyMzansi platform as a single access point for government services, including digital driver’s licences, matric certificates, online police statements, and remote South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) grant eligibility checks, and the expansion of Smart ID and passport services to hundreds of additional bank branches. AI will be deployed to target illicit economy sectors, including tobacco, fuel, alcohol, and counterfeit goods. With over R50 billion in data centre investment expected over the next three years, 55 data centres already built, and a R1 trillion public infrastructure commitment of which digital infrastructure forms a core part, South Africa is signalling serious intent to become a digital infrastructure hub for the continent. For private sector technology providers, the scale of these commitments represents a significant procurement and partnership pipeline that will unfold across multiple government departments throughout 2026.
🇱🇸 LESOTHO
AI Strategy: Digital Infrastructure and the Sesotho AI Project
The Ministry of Information, Communications, Science, Technology and Innovation (MICSTI) reviewed progress on three foundational digital public infrastructure systems: X-Road for secure inter-government data exchange, MOSIP for biometric digital identity, and a Decision Support System (DSS) for government analytics. These form the backbone of a digital government architecture that will increasingly define how technology providers engage with the public sector.
Separately, Lesotho advanced plans for a Sesotho-language AI system, an initiative using a National University of Lesotho word bank to train AI models capable of operating in the national language, with applications across healthcare, agriculture, and social communication. The project signals a Lesotho-specific approach to AI adoption that prioritises local relevance over imported solutions. Plans for an AI Digital Academy, a National AI Policy now formally approved, and a 2026–27 ICT budget allocation of M386.4 million collectively reflect a government that is actively shaping its own digital transformation agenda. For AI developers, digital identity providers, and technology partners looking for early-mover opportunities in emerging Southern African markets, this is a policy and infrastructure foundation worth watching.
🇳🇦 NAMIBIA
Telecommunications: 5G Transition and Digital Security
The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) hosted a Telecommunications Stakeholder Engagement and an Oral Hearing on 18th February 2026, focused on the phased discontinuation of 2G and 3G networks, to be replaced by 4G and 5G infrastructure. Signalling the start of the four-year clock on legacy networks and the sector’s efforts to move from policy discussion to implementation planning. CRAN’s CEO, Mrs Emilia Nghikembua, noted that 131 operators across 65 countries had already shut down or had commenced shutting down 2G networks, framing Namibia’s transition as a matter of competitive necessity. Alongside the network transition, CRAN announced a Public Key Infrastructure initiative to strengthen digital trust and security and a Long-Run Incremental Cost study to inform fairer sector pricing, both of which will shape the commercial environment for operators and digital service providers. The challenge of reaching rural communities, migrating voice services to IP-based solutions, and supporting legacy device users through e-SIM adoption will require close industry-regulator collaboration in the period ahead.
🌐 REGIONAL: SOUTH AFRICA & CONTINENTAL
African Science and Technology Strategy: STISA 2034 Launched
At the continental level, developments during the margins of the 39th African Union Summit in Ethiopia introduced equally important governance signals. AUDA-NEPAD launched the 2030 EdTech Vision and Plan, framing education technology as a form of public digital infrastructure and envisioning an inclusive, interoperable pan-African EdTech ecosystem. By positioning education technology within infrastructure discourse rather than as isolated digitisation projects, the initiative signals a structural approach to continental educational transformation aligned with Agenda 2063. The launch of the STISA 2034 Implementation Plan further reinforces this shift. STISA 2034, the African Union’s second ten-year Science, Technology and Innovation strategy, now moves into an operational phase with defined execution pathways and resource mobilisation frameworks. South Africa publicly aligned its national Decadal Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation with STISA priorities, reinforcing coherence between continental and national innovation agendas. The emphasis on building a sovereign research agenda for Africa highlights growing discourse around technological self-determination and reduced dependency on external innovation pipelines.
Regional Trade & Digital Finance: TSTR Policy Dialogue Forum
Partner and Member States of COMESA, EAC, and SADC convened a Policy Dialogue Forum in Nairobi on 18–19 February 2026 to advance the Tripartite Simplified Trade Regime (TSTR), a regional trade facilitation framework designed to make cross-border trade simpler, faster, and more affordable, particularly for small-scale traders, women, and youth. SADC Director of Industrial Development and Trade Mr Dhunraj Kassee highlighted the Tripartite Task Force’s work on harmonising procedures, reducing non-tariff barriers, improving border coordination, and creating safer and more accessible trade systems across the Tripartite region.
The Forum featured presentations on STR frameworks across the three RECs and discussions on civil society’s role in advancing the TSTR, concluding with targeted recommendations spanning harmonisation, gender inclusion, labour protections, capacity building, and accountability. The TSTR is directly aligned with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA’s) goal of creating a single continental market and is expected to be endorsed at the Summit of Heads of State and Government in Nairobi in July 2026. Its advancement has direct implications for fintech and digital payments, a functioning AfCFTA single market depends on interoperable cross-border payment infrastructure, digital trade facilitation systems, and data governance frameworks that enable rather than obstruct trade at scale.
A Region Moving from Strategy to Institutional Depth
The developments across Southern Africa during this period do not point to a regulatory slowdown or a pivot away from new rulemaking. Rather, they reflect a phase of institutional alignment and implementation. Financial supervision is tightening through operational standards and reporting requirements; digital public infrastructure projects are advancing from design into deployment; artificial intelligence is being embedded within national strategies and fiscal frameworks; and continental bodies are refining governance norms around platforms, research sovereignty and interoperability.
This is indicative of not an absence of regulatory ambition, but a shift in emphasis toward execution, compliance readiness and regional coordination. Several initiatives, including Africa-wide digital platform governance guidelines, STISA 2034 implementation pathways, and national AI work plans, remain in active development and will likely generate more concrete regulatory instruments in the months ahead. As such, this period should be understood as part of a broader regulatory cycle in which consultation, fiscal allocation, institutional setup and supervisory calibration precede formal rule adoption.
The coming quarters will therefore be important to monitor. Implementation timelines for crypto reporting, prudential reforms, DPI infrastructure roll-outs and AI institutionalisation will determine whether current policy direction translates into durable regulatory outcomes. Southern Africa’s digital governance landscape is evolving, not through isolated announcements, but through layered institutional progression that merits sustained observation rather than premature conclusions.