Legal updates and opinions

By Pieter Steyn, Director A Public Benefit Organisation ("PBO") is defined in the Income Tax Act as a non‑profit company or a trust which has been [...]

If your business has met all the requirements of European data privacy regulations, do you then also comply with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act [...]

by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Head of Data Privacy Practice Companies that fail to protect their customers’ personal information may face class action suits once the Protection of [...]

By Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Head of Data Privacy Practice In digital era, privacy must be a priority. Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely [...]

by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Head of Data Privacy Practice Online security is one of the most important things to consider in today’s business world. Much is made [...]

With data breaches becoming commonplace it seems as if businesses need to now consider not whether they will be victims of a data breach but rather [...]

By Tebogo Sibidla, Director and Kirsten Whitworth, Senior Associate In anticipation of the coming into operation of the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 ("POPIA"), many [...]

By Pieter Steyn, Director The Broad‑Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Commission has published its findings and recommendations following its investigation of the MTN Zakhele Futhi Scheme. [...]

By Pieter Steyn, Director On 11 June 2019, the Broad‑Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Commission published its findings and recommendations following an anonymous complaint relating to Eskom's [...]

By Pieter Steyn, Director On 31 May 2019, the Minister of Trade and Industry replaced the existing Codes of Good Practice relating to enterprise and supplier development, [...]

By Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director, Head of Data Privacy Practice, Werksmans Advisory Services (Pty) Ltd HOW DO THEY PHISH? DATA BREACHES AND DATA SECURITY The loss of [...]

By Pieter Steyn, Director Recent statements by the Commissioner of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment ("BBBEE") Commission, Ms Zodwa Ntuli, have resulted in much media attention [...]

by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Head of Data Privacy Practice and Mahlogonolo Motimele, Candidate Attorney A CLOSER LOOK AT THE VOTERS ROLL POPIA applies to the processing of [...]

Companies, when obtaining and processing personal information must not mislead and must also provide certain information to the individual data subjects.  The data protection regime in [...]

On 14 December 2018, the Regulations relating to the Protection of Personal Information were finally published by the Information Regulator ("Regulator") under section 112(2) of the Protection [...]

by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Head of Data Privacy Practice The POPIA[1] centres around eight Conditions detailing how personal information should be handled while regard is given to [...]

A dawn raid can be carried out on any business, big or small, and companies must be mindful of the possibility of a raid. It is [...]

by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Head of Data Privacy Practice "Little pigs! Little pigs! Let me in! Let me in!" "No! No! No! Not by the hairs on [...]

by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Head of Data Privacy Practice A number of articles have been written and comments made in the media in relation to hundreds of [...]

On 12 July 2018, the Commission issued final findings against BEE Matrix, a BBBEE verification agent. The Commission's first finalised case in January 2018 also involved [...]

by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Head of Data Privacy Practice The importance of a data breach plan The South African society has read about, and some members unfortunately [...]

by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Head of Data Privacy Practice WHAT MESSAGE DOES THE FACEBOOK DATA BREACH HOLD FOR SOUTH AFRICA AS A SOCIETY AND THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY [...]

On 29 March 2018, the Minister of Trade and Industry published draft amendments to the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Codes ("Codes") for public comment. The [...]

) The Competition Commission investigates certain mergers and anticompetitive practices including cartel conduct (for example price fixing, collusive tendering and market division between competitors) and abuses [...]

by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Head of Data Privacy Practice The Protection of Personal Information Act, Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA") addresses, amongst others, poor information control and security. Therefore, [...]