For more than a decade, Adolf Lategan has been building digital solutions for South African businesses.
Now Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at digital marketing agency Rogerwilco, Adolf specialises in solution architecture and backend development, with a strong focus on Drupal and Laravel. Throughout his career, he has worked with a wide range of technologies, helping clients launch ecommerce platforms, online services and digital experiences that need reliable payment capabilities.
His relationship with Payfast by Network started in 2013 during a personal development project. At the time, he was looking for an alternative after encountering challenges with other payment APIs.
“Given previous bad experiences with competitor APIs, I opted for a change,” said Adolf. “I thoroughly enjoyed the documentation, simplicity of integration and support from the Payfast team. It was a stark difference from other payment systems.”
What began as a single integration quickly became a solution he trusted. Years later, when Rogerwilco needed a payment partner for client projects, Adolf recommended Payfast based on that positive experience.
“It has since remained Rogerwilco’s go-to and the primary system we recommend to all clients,” said Adolf.
What developers need from a payment partner
After years of implementing and managing payment solutions, Adolf has a clear view of what separates a good payment provider from a great one. Security, stability and strong development standards are non-negotiable.
“As a developer, I always recommend the option that is most secure, best maintained and follows modern best practice,” said Adolf.
As his role evolved from developer to CTO, commercial considerations became just as important. “As a CTO, I have come to understand the critical importance of transaction costs, cost transparency and flexibility in volume-versus-value considerations,” said Adolf.
For Rogerwilco, those requirements need to work together. The platform must be straightforward for developers to implement while giving clients confidence in the costs, functionality and long-term sustainability of the solution they are adopting.
“Cost transparency and ease of integration are the primary reasons I recommend Payfast. That, combined with their ever-expanding payment options that require no developer intervention, keeps them at the top of our list,” said Adolf.
A payment gateway built for developers
One of the reasons Payfast has remained Rogerwilco’s preferred payment solution is the developer experience.
Poor documentation, outdated APIs and unreliable testing environments can add unnecessary time and complexity to any project. Adolf believes Payfast removes many of those obstacles.
“Every developer has faced the frustration of bad documentation. With Payfast, the documentation is the lifeboat rather than the shark in the water,” said Adolf.
He points to the platform’s well-structured documentation, modern APIs and reliable sandbox environments as key advantages throughout the development process. “From development and QA to final production launch, the experience is seamless,” said Adolf.
Over the years, Adolf has personally completed six Payfast integrations. He also developed a reusable Payfast integration module for Drupal that is now used across Rogerwilco’s wider development team, helping streamline future implementations and maintain consistency across projects.
Making payments simpler for clients
The benefits extend beyond development teams. According to Adolf, clients value solutions that are easy to launch, cost-effective to maintain and capable of adapting as their businesses grow. Payfast’s growing range of payment methods helps clients stay competitive without requiring ongoing redevelopment work.
“The ease of integration and ever-growing payment options produce successful projects during initial development and long-term maintenance without much effort required from Rogerwilco,” said Adolf.
He also highlights the ability to access new payment capabilities without additional development work as a significant advantage for merchants. “Feature releases for clients without development intervention are always a massive bonus,” said Adolf.
One project that demonstrates this value involved a social outreach initiative in 2025. Faced with tight budgets and delivery timelines, the project required a donation solution that could be implemented quickly while providing security, reliability and multiple payment options for donors.
Because Rogerwilco already had Payfast integration capabilities in place, the organisation was able to benefit from a solution that made sense both financially and operationally. Payfast’s reduced pricing options for NGOs further strengthened the fit, creating a sustainable solution that met the organisation’s immediate needs while supporting its longer-term goals.
Saving time for agencies
For agencies, efficiency has a direct impact on client outcomes. Time spent managing integrations, resolving technical issues or maintaining payment systems ultimately increases project costs. Adolf says Payfast helps eliminate much of that effort.
“Payfast saves admin time, headaches and development time during both setup and long-term maintenance. Saving Rogerwilco time leads to lower client costs, making it a win-win to use Payfast as our payment solution,” said Adolf.
Advice for fellow developers
Switching payment providers can feel like a significant undertaking, particularly when existing systems are already live.
Having worked through those decisions himself, Adolf’s advice is simple:” As a developer myself, replacing a half-working solution with something new is always a daunting task. Stop stalling the decision, you’ll be delighted with the outcome.”
More than 10 years after his first Payfast integration, Adolf continues to recommend the platform to clients for many of the same reasons that convinced him in 2013: documentation that supports developers, straightforward implementation, transparent pricing and ongoing platform innovation.
For agencies looking to deliver reliable ecommerce experiences without adding unnecessary complexity, those fundamentals continue to matter.
Ready to simplify your next payment integration? Explore Payfast’s developer tools, integrations and payment solutions, or recommend Payfast to your clients to help them launch faster and scale with confidence.