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The purpose of this paper was to examine health-related misinformation proliferation during COVID-19 pandemic and its implications on public governance in South Africa.

Because of COVID-19 related restrictions, this study conducted a systematic review. The researchers searched several search engines which include PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus to identify relevant studies. A total of 252 peer reviewed research papers were identified. These research papers were furthered filtered, and a total of 44 relevant papers were eventually selected

There is a relationship between the spread of health-related misinformation and public governance. Government coordination and institutional coherence across the different spheres of governance is affected when there are multiple sources of information that are unverified and uncoordinated.

This study was limited to a systematic review because of COVID-19 restrictions, and therefore, actual data could not be collected. Moreover, this study was limited to health-related communication, and therefore, its findings can only be generalized to the health sector.

Future research in this subject should consider actual data collection from the departments of health and communications to gain an in-depth understanding of misinformation and its implications on public governance from their perspective as frontline departments as far as government communication is concerned.

Misinformation is an impediment to any fight against a public health emergency. Institutions which regulate communications technology and monitor misinformation should work harder in enforcing the law to deter information peddlers from their practice. This calls for reviewing existing regulation so that online spaces are safer for communicating health-related information.

Effective health communication remains a priority for the South African Government during COVID-19. However, with health-related misinformation on the increase, it is imperative to mitigate the spread to ensure it does not impede effective public governance. Government departments in South Africa are yet to develop policies that mitigate the spread of misinformation, and this paper may assist them in doing so.

This paper aims to examine the role of electronic governance (e-governance) in enabling asylum seekers’ access to public services in the city of Durban, South Africa. Because of COVID-19, the government scaled down its operations, limiting access to public services, including among migrants.

Because of COVID-19-related restrictions, a systematic review was conducted of the relevant academic literature as well as the information portals of relevant government departments, municipalities and research reports on migration and refugees in South Africa. A total of 320 peer-reviewed research articles were identified. These were filtered and 68 relevant articles were selected.

The study found that asylum seekers have limited access to public services via information communication technology-enabled mechanisms. Whilst the city government has embraced e-governance, it is still in its nascent stages.

This study was limited to a desktop one because of COVID-19 restrictions and it focused exclusively on asylum seekers. Therefore, its findings can only be generalised to this category of people.

Future studies on this subject should gather data from all categories of migrants to gain in-depth perspectives.

All spheres of governance in South Africa should recognise asylum seekers as a constituency that deserves access to public services. E-governance can facilitate easier access to these services, and policies need to be aligned with this reality.

This study examined the efficacy of e-governance in enabling access to government services by asylum seekers during COVID-19. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other study on this subject was conducted during this period.