I had never been to South Africa before, so I was really diving to explore the unknown. Most of my understanding of the country came from school textbooks and the histories of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.

So before the trip, I picked up a classic: “Cry, the Beloved Country" by Alan Paton to understand the country before I visit it. The book is a deeply emotional narration of belonging, separation, injustice, and the complex social injustice shaped by apartheid. It also speaks about District 6, once a vibrant, diverse community erased during apartheid-era. Today also this area, though most of the land is barren, some of the areas is covered in sequential coloured houses representing the times of discrimination.

District 6 Now: Coloured homes representing its history of discrimination.

While reading the book, I wondered how much of that history still shaped the country today—and how different the real South Africa would feel from the one I had imagined from the books.

I along with Nabin, Rucha & Ritvik were travelling from Mumbai to Cape Town via Addis Ababa. The descent into Addis Ababa was stunning: neatly planned city from above. It made me wish we had a few hours to explore the city.

Cape Town, however, welcomed us differently.

As we walked towards immigration, everything felt normal—until it wasn’t. Within minutes, we were told that our visas were not showing in the immigration system. Mine, Rucha’s, and Ritwik’s records were missing. Only Nabin’s visa appeared, and he was allowed through, while the rest of us were held back.

After close to 6 hours of uncertainty and being at the detention centre, we finally got help from the Indian Embassy. With help from the Indian consulate in Cape Town, the issue was clarified: the South African immigration portal had somehow experienced a syncing failure due to which our visas were not visible even though the visas were valid. Our names were on the manual list for some reason. Like us there were many other Indians who were stuck.

Stepping into Cape Town after that ordeal was a mix of relief, exhaustion, and a surprising sense of familiarity. It reminded me of Paton’s words— "how systems can fail people, and yet how individuals step in to restore dignity”.

Exploring the city with Partner

We started our next morning at the peaceful Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden—the perfect reset after the previous night.

Our partner, Salieg, picked us up from the garden and spent the day showing us Cape Town. From the iconic Jameson Stairs at UCT to the bustling financial district, the city’s soul began to unfold.

During our conversations, he told me about his extensive experience with Sage Pastel and his time working with Sage. What stood out was his commitment to bringing meaningful change—he wants to transition his entire network of Sage resellers and distributors to ERPNext. When I asked him what he believed was the biggest challenge ERPNext would face in the South African market, he paused for a moment before saying, “We lack internal capacity in this country.” He explained how Sage had established itself by collaborating with universities—hackathons, coursework, student certifications. The same approach, he felt, could accelerate ERPNext adoption here. I could immediately relate to it since it reminded me of how Tally had also taken a similar approach to penetrate the Indian market.

The Frappe Meet-Up & Frappe Framework Training

The second day of our trip was truly the highlight — the first-ever Frappe Meetup in Cape Town, which turned out to be a remarkable success. With 93 registrations and 53 attendees, the energy in the room far exceeded my expectations. We met people who had driven in from Johannesburg, neighbouring countries, exploring open source for the first time, partners curious about Frappe Cloud, and customers looking for alternatives to costly legacy systems.

We began our day with an introduction from Salieg, whose energy and passion immediately set the tone. He spoke with genuine conviction about his vision for Frappe in South Africa. In his words, Frappe was an “Open Source Symphony”

He described it beautifully: a platform where every module, every contributor, every line of code plays its part. Just like instruments in an orchestra, each element comes together in harmony — flexible, modular, and powerful on its own, yet truly extraordinary when combined.

The session by Kera Chandler and Christiaan Swart from Cohenix, a subsidiary of EPI-Use stood out for me for many reasons. They walked us through the extensive work they’ve done on the ERPNext South Africa Localisation, which they have generously open sourced.

They had a very thoughtful architectural approach to it. They built two fully independent frameworks—one for Tax Compliance and another for Payroll Compliance—allowing each to function on its own without interdependency. It was not just technically clever but incredibly practical, especially for organisations that may need one without the other. (FYI: https://github.com/frappe/erpnextsouthafrica)

The next day brought its own surprise. While Rucha conducted Frappe Framework training for 16 enthusiastic participants, I met Suhail who worked in the administration from UWC — the person who helped us secure the venue. What started as a quick coffee turned into a three-hour tour of UWC’s campus & its history then moving towards the product. He was curious if they could use it internally. We further dived into their current operational workflows. An impromptu discussion turned to a Frappe Demo with their team.

Exploring the city

The next day we planned to meet the Red Cross Society, but the meeting was cancelled at the last minute—the General Secretary of the International Federation had to rush to Johannesburg for the G20 Summit. It was disappointing, but it also gifted us something rare on this trip: an unplanned, completely free day.

We drove to Cape Point then to the Cape of Good Hope, a place that feels like the end of the world yet calm and at Boulders Beach where we met the penguins. We tasted local cuisine and soaked in the atmosphere. As we moved through the city, I couldn’t help reflecting on the contrast—something Alan Paton captured that South Africa is full of “beauty and terror,” a land where the mountains stand in majesty while human lives struggle beneath their shadow. Cape Town reflects that duality even today exists.

Meeting the Community

Our final day in Cape Town began early and it was pretty much blocked with meetings that showed us just how much momentum Frappe is gaining in South Africa. We started at the University of the Western Cape, where we met Prof. Ruchen Wyngaard to discuss how ERPNext could be integrated into student learning. We spoke about creating hackathons, introducing ERPNext into academic projects, and encouraging students to build their own startups using the product. The timing couldn’t have been better—UWC was hosting a German exchange program, and the visiting professors were enthusiastic about collaborating further.

From there, we headed to meet Bevan Wilson from Greater Computer Solutions, a Sage Platinum Reseller. He spoke candidly about the challenges of selling Sage: high licensing fees, limited reseller margins, and outdated on-premise systems that no longer meet customer expectations. When we walked him through how Frappe Cloud operates, especially with hosting available in Cape Town and Johannesburg, he immediately recognised the opportunity. I think we can see a long way to go with them.

Our last visit of the day was to Green Pasteurs (Onion Chef), a subsidiary of Freezer Link, who have been using Sage Pastel for years. They shared how rigid the workflows in Sage had become, to the point where it created more manual work instead of automating their processes. Even basic functions like a simple Delivery Note were missing, and the lack of a cloud-hosting option meant they had to manage their own infrastructure, which has been increasingly difficult for them.

During the factory tour, they also showed us how they currently maintain their Gantt charts manually—further reinforcing their desire to move to ERPNext for a more streamlined and automated setup.

By the end of the day, it was clear that Frappe can fit in very well in South Africa. The enthusiasm from universities, partners and customers made this one of the most encouraging days of our trip.

To finish off the day, Salieg requested that we meet his longtime friend from India, who migrated to South Africa in 1993 and has lived there ever since. He did ask them that when the team comes please do make me meet them. He shifted from Ghatkopar after the Bombay riots in 1992-1993 to South Africa. Professionally he is an accountant, but gardening is his true passion. He shared valuable insights about the history of Indians in South Africa and the discrimination that still exists today. After a meaningful and refreshing conversation, he generously gifted Rucha and me a couple of books, as we had been deeply engrossed in his collection. He insisted we take one each as a token of remembrance.

I personally realised that South Africa is a place that refuses to fit into a single narrative. It is beautiful yet bruised. What started as a trip to host a meetup became a reminder of why we do what we do: empower people to build, create, question, and transform. Cape Town gave us stories, friendships, and possibilities—and we are returning with far more than we brought and I would definitely like to come back to this place again.