In 2017, South Africa ranked 1st out of 115 countries in the Open Budget Index (OBI) sharing this position with New Zealand. National Treasury was at the time already publishing extensive budgetary information on its website, however it had been observed over time that the use of this data is not as extensive as it could be. Furthermore, the OBI report showed that South Africa can improve on public participation. The portal therefore publishes easily accessible data in a user-friendly format, to enable more effective information sharing, analyses and research. The portal also supports involvement by civil society and the public in the budget process and enables citizens to have informed discussions in different government policy areas. The launch of vulekamali was on 20 February 2018, in Parliament, Cape Town. It is a project by National Treasury and IMALI YETHU, a coalition of civil society organisations driven by an interest in promoting budget transparency and public participation. Given the complexity, the portal will be built in stages. The different development stages are essentially distinguished by the scope of data made available in each stage. Users are encouraged to contribute data and participate in various conversations around the budget process on an ongoing basis.