More and more South Africans have access to telephones, while most do not have reliable access to the Internet or even printed media. A telephone-based, speech-driven information system can build on existing infrastructure and communication methods to connect all South Africans to the benefits of information technology.

The Lwazi project was commissioned by the Department of Arts and Culture to provide South Africans with access to government information and services in any of the 11 official languages, using a landline or mobile telephone, free of charge. The Lwazi service was developed by the Human Language Technology (HLT) Research Group of the Meraka Institute of the CSIR.