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Why cybersecurity awareness is failing South African businesses and what to fix first
Charmé van der Westhuizen, New Business Development Manager at IPT
South African businesses are investing heavily in cybersecurity technology. Detection tools are becoming more sophisticated, monitoring is more advanced, and response capabilities are faster. Yet most breaches still begin with a human error. This shows that technology is not the problem. Instead, it is how cybersecurity is approached.
For many businesses, cybersecurity awareness remains a compliance activity rather than a risk discipline. Training is scheduled annually, attendance is recorded, and certificates are issued. From a governance perspective, the requirement has been met. From a risk perspective, little has changed.
Not a one-off event
In practice, behaviour is shaped by what is reinforced, not what is presented once a year. When training is concentrated into a single intensive session, it competes with operational pressures and fades quickly out of memory. The reality of South African business environments is that teams are stretched, inboxes are full, and urgency is constant. Under those conditions, knowledge without reinforcement does not stick.
If we accept that human behaviour remains the entry point for most cyber incidents, then awareness cannot sit on the periphery of the security strategy; it must be embedded in business operations.
Thinking differently
The first issue to fix is cadence. Short, consistent training delivered over time improves employee skills much more effectively than infrequent, high-intensity workshops. This is not because the content is different, but rather because repetition alters how employees respond to cyberattacks. When people are exposed more frequently to common threat scenarios, they can better identify any potential attack.
The second issue is relevance. Many organisations roll out uniform training across the entire business. That approach assumes that all employees experience the same risk exposure. In reality, risk varies by department. Finance teams face different attack patterns from sales teams. HR manages different types of sensitive information from operations. When awareness programmes fail to reflect those realities, they lose credibility.
Cybersecurity is often described as an IT responsibility. It is not. It is behavioural risk management embedded across departments. If awareness is not tailored to role-based exposure, engagement drops and risk remains unevenly distributed.
The third issue is measurement. Awareness programmes frequently rely on completion metrics rather than behavioural indicators. Attendance does not equal building a resilient organisation. A signed acknowledgement does not demonstrate that a company has now improved its cyber defences.
Identifying threats
When organisations assess behavioural vulnerabilities at the outset, they gain visibility into actual exposure. Automation can then deliver targeted reinforcement at regular intervals, addressing identified weak points rather than rotating generic topics. Over time, this produces measurable improvement instead of superficial coverage.
Automation, in this context, is not about sophistication for its own sake. It is about consistency and accountability. It ensures that awareness is not dependent on manual scheduling or shifting priorities. Weaknesses are identified, addressed, and re-evaluated systematically.
Without that structure, awareness remains reactive.
More than compliance
South African businesses operate in a regulatory and economic environment where reputational damage and operational disruption carry significant consequences. Clients, partners, and regulators increasingly expect demonstrable risk management, not theoretical commitment.
The uncomfortable reality is that many companies are investing more in detecting breaches than in preventing the human actions that trigger them.
Fixing cybersecurity awareness does not require a new platform as a starting point. It requires reframing awareness as an ongoing behavioural discipline supported by structured reinforcement, role-based relevance, and measurable improvement.
Technology will always be essential. But until awareness is integrated into operational processes and treated as a governed risk control, the human layer will remain inconsistently defended.
The number of tools deployed does not define cybersecurity maturity. It is reflected in how people behave under pressure. That is where the real work begins.
Tech & Events
City of Tshwane Intensifies War on Potholes
City of Tshwane Intensifies War on Potholes as Jetpatcher Demonstration Marks Next Phase of Accelerated Delivery
The City of Tshwane reaffirmed its commitment to restoring safe, reliable and dignified road infrastructure for all residents as it advances to the next phase of its War on Potholes.
This follows a live demonstration of the City’s Jetpatcher road resealing technology, undertaken at the request of the Executive Mayor to demonstrate the full operational capability of the Jetpatcher fleet, including its ability to carry out basic road resealing and rejuvenation.
For many residents, potholes have come to symbolise years of infrastructure decline, delayed maintenance and inconsistent service delivery. This administration has made it clear that this will not continue. The War on Potholes is not a slogan. It is a programme of action that is rebuilding the City’s road maintenance system from the ground up.
Over the past year, measurable progress has been achieved:
- More than 18 000 potholes have been reported, with over 14 000 repaired
- Over 220 kilometres of roads have been resurfaced through reactive maintenance
- A further 78 kilometres have been addressed through proactive resurfacing to prevent deterioration before it occurs
These interventions are improving road safety, protecting vehicles, and restoring mobility across all regions of the City.The Jetpatcher trucks, procured in September 2025, have already been deployed extensively across Regions 3, 4 and 6, where they have contributed to both pothole repairs and broader road rehabilitation efforts.
The demonstration marks a deliberate shift to fully utilizing the expanded capabilities of this technology. Following their deployment, it became clear that the Jetpatchersare not limited to pothole repairs alone. They also have the ability to undertake basic road rejuvenation. This is a critical intervention for roads that are deteriorating but do not yet require full reconstruction.
Through the application of bitumen and liquid asphalt, the Jetpatcher produces a spray that penetrates the road surface, binds with existing material, and hardens to extend the life of the road. This process can extend the useful lifespan of affected roads by between two and five years, depending on traffic volumes.
This approach is both practical and necessary.
Full road rehabilitation remains essential in many cases, but it comes at a significant cost of between R10 million and R12 million per kilometre. By contrast, road rejuvenation provides a substantially more cost-effective intervention, allowing the City to extend the life of existing infrastructure while managing budget constraints responsibly.
This technology does not replace the need for full rehabilitation where required. Rather, it forms part of a layered and intelligent maintenance strategy that ensures the right intervention is applied at the right time.The Jetpatcher therefore represents more than a repair tool. It is a strategic asset in extending infrastructure lifespan, improving service delivery efficiency, and reducing long-term costs. Importantly, this intervention forms part of a broader programme of innovation in road maintenance. It represents the third instalment of new technologies and methods introduced by the City to strengthen its response to
deteriorating road infrastructure.
The City of Tshwane applies a multi-method approach to road maintenance, combining Jetpatcher technology, hot asphalt, compliant cold mix, and innovative materials such as GrooveTech. This ensures flexibility, resilience, and the ability to respond under varying operational conditions.
It must also be acknowledged that Tshwane has experienced one of its wettest seasons in recent years. Persistent rainfall accelerates road deterioration and limits repair windows. Despite these challenges, the
City has continued to intensify operations and expand its response.
The Jetpatcher demonstration therefore marks a new phase of accelerated delivery, where innovation, internal capacity and operational discipline are being combined to systematically reduce the pothole backlog and improve the quality of the City’s road network.
Residents are encouraged to continue reporting potholes through official City channels, as this information remains critical in guiding response and deployment.
The City of Tshwane remains committed to fixing what is broken, maintaining what works, and building infrastructure that lasts.