While the Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to affect every
aspect of our lives, we cannot overlook the importance of privacy
and data protection.
South Africa's dedicated privacy and data protection
legislation, the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013
(“POPIA”) will come into force on a
date to be determined by the president. Certain provisions relating
to the establishment of the Information Regulator and the making of
regulations under POPIA have however come into force on 11 April
2014. The regulator was appointed on 1 December 2016 and the final
regulations were published on 14 December 2018.
The chairperson of the regulator, in January 2020, sent a
request to President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare that the remaining
provisions of POPIA commence on 1 April 2020. It was widely
expected that the president would act on this request, but,
presumably due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the
commencement date was not proclaimed. It is currently
