Certification of Electronic Evidence – A Powerful Tool in South African Litigation

The use of hard copy printouts of documents stored on computers has long been a bugbear for banks, insurance companies and anyone else wishing to present evidence from its computer system in order to prove a claim. Computer data is electronically stored. Accordingly, hard copy printouts from a computer presented in evidence face the immediate difficulty that they are hearsay evidence and offend the best evidence rule. The Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECT Act) repealed the much criticised Computer Evidence Act and provides a considerably streamlined approach to electronic information. The relevant provisions of the Act are designed to make computer evidence equivalent to normal hardcopy evidence, and to address issues of hearsay and best evidence.