Home Affairs scraps Betway's secret Wi-Fi deal

Project cannot include any sin tax company

- By Setumo Stone

The Department of Home Affairs has rapidly terminated a controversial Wi-Fi deal that would have seen some of its offices across South Africa transformed into advertising billboards for sports betting company Betway.

The hasty move this week follows pointed media questions and parliamentary enquiries, prompting the department to urgently review the arrangement after it came to light that Betway would be providing ad funding assistance for the so-called “free Wi-Fi pilot programme”.

The Wi-Fi initiative, rolled out by private company LA Solutions and its partners Gresham Media, Blue Label Media and Think Wi-Fi, provided free internet at 25 Home Affairs sites. However, the funding model relied on advertisements shown to users when they logged onto the network.

The deal, signed in 2023, and Betway’s involvement earlier this year were never publicly announced until a recent social media revelation by TikTok user, @krizzle, sparking concerns over the use of government facilities to promote gambling.

Toaddress the concerns, home affairs deputy director-general of institutional planning and support, Thulani Mavuso, stated on Thursday that the project was still in a “pilot phase”, which he cited as the reason for the lack of transparency.