Ahmore Burger-Smidt

Head of Regulatory

Recognised as the data privacy lawyer of choice for multinational corporations, regulatory bodies, and industry leaders, Ahmore Burger-Smidt brings over 30 years of legal expertise with a deep focus on data privacy, regulatory compliance, and competition law. As Director since 2011, Ahmore combines authoritative legal knowledge with practical advisory skills, helping clients navigate complex data protection landscapes locally and internationally.

Certified as an Information Privacy Professional (Europe) and an active member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals since 2017, she is highly sought after for her strategic counsel, compliance frameworks, and leadership in data governance. Ahmore’s trusted reputation is underscored by her extensive advisory role in high-profile investigations, cross-border regulatory compliance, and cutting-edge data privacy programme implementation. Ahmore has advised clients in a wide range of jurisdictions, including Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Poland, and Morocco, and within key African regional economic communities such as CEMAC, WAEMU, ECOWAS, and COMESA. She has also worked with leading global competition authorities, including the ACCC (Australia), Office of Fair Trading (UK), U.S. Department of Justice, and Federal Trade Commission (US)

Ahmore is the Head of the Regulatory Practice group and the Data Privacy and Cyber service Line at Werksmans Attorneys.

Years of Experience: 31 years

Practice areas

Competition
Regulatory (Including Data Privacy and Cybercrime)
Digital Media & Electronic Communications
Technology & Innovation

Expertise

Ahmore's key expertise spans commercial law, spanning across Competition, Regulatory (including Data Privacy and Cybercrime), Digital Media & Electronic Communications and Technoloy & Innovation practice areas at Werksmans.

Relevant Experience

Experience: Competition Law

Acted as Beijer Ref SA's competition law advisor relating to its acquisition of the TecsaReco business operated by Tecsa (Pty) Ltd.
Acted as Southern Palace Group of Companies (Pty) Ltd's ("SPG") lead competition law advisor in all aspects relating to the acquisition by SPG of Murray & Roberts Limited's Infrastructure and Buildings Platform business in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
Acted as the lead competition law advisor to Lenmed Health (Pty) Ltd, Cold Creek Investments 22 (Pty) Ltd and Matlosana Medical Health Services (Pty) Ltd ("MMHS") in all aspects relating to the acquisition by Lenmed of 100% of the issued share the ordinary issued shares in Cold Creek and MMHS (through Cold Creek).
Provided regulatory advice with specific regard to the Competition Act in 25 countries to MTN Group Ltd.
Acted as the lead competition law advisor to Hosken Consolidated Investments Ltd in obtaining merger approval in a hostile takeover of Zamani Market and Management Consultants Proprietary Limited and Ithuba Holdings (RF) (Pty) Ltd.
Provided regulatory advice to MTN Group Ltd in relation to a managed services agreement with Liquid MNS with specific regard to the Competition Act, 1998 and the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 as well as commercial drafting.
Acted as the lead competition law advisor to Bidvest Bank Ltd and Eqstra Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd in the proposed ultimate acquisition by Bidvest Bank of 100% of the issued share capital of Eqstra Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd.
Acted as the lead competition law advisor Botshilu Holdings (Pty) Ltd in obtaining merger approval for the acquisition of Botshilu Private Hospital (Pty) Ltd and Botshilo Properties (Pty) Ltd by Botshilu Holdings.
Acted as the lead competition law advisor to Beijer Ref SA in relation to its acquisition of the TecsaReco business operated by Tecsa (Pty) Ltd.
Acted as the lead competition law advisor to Berkshire Partners LLC on its proposed indirect acquisition of Teraco Data Environments (Pty) Ltd.
Acted as the lead competition law advisor to Karan Beef (Pty) Ltd and Karan Beef Feedlot in respect of its acquisition of the business and properties of SK Caine Farming, Caine Farming (Pty) Ltd and Triple A Meat (Pty) Ltd.
Acted as the lead competition law advisor to Fairvest Property Holdings Ltd in all aspects relating to a transaction in terms of which the property assets of Fairvest and Arrowhead Properties Ltd would be combined. This deal was nominated for Dealmakers Deal of the Year 2021.

Relevant Experience: Data Privacy and Cybersecurity

Provided advice to a South African Regulatory Body in respect of the 8 Conditions for Lawful Processing as well as the other essential aspects of POPIA.
Assisted one of the largest telecommunications providers to formulate responses to the Information Regulator and affected data subjects, as well as address the matter to the general public through the media in respect of a data breach.
Provided POPIA compliance advice to one of the largest medical schemes in South Africa. In particular, after conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the Scheme's POPIA compliance status, Werksmans developed a POPIA compliance plan for the Scheme and drafted policies and procedures for implementation.
Provided advice to one of the largest global tech companies in respect of privacy legislation for various African jurisdictions.
Advised Vumacam (Pty) Ltd on its legal position in respect of data subject's privacy rights relating to surveillance legislation and public interest aspects in terms of POPIA.
Advised the Bureau Veritas Group of Companies on its duties and responsibilities in terms of POPIA, conducted POPIA e-Learning, a comprehensive evaluation of its POPIA compliance status, and reviewed existing global privacy policies and procedural, drafted necessary policies and procedural documents to ensure compliance with POPIA.
Advised Sechaba Trust Pty Ltd on data protection and privacy aspects, reviewed and amended various IT, digital marketing and wireless applications service provider agreements.
Advised the Mauritius Commercial Bank Limited (South African Representative Office) as to compliance with POPIA.
Formulate and developed a privacy framework for a provincial department of education.
Provided POPIA workshop training to a Chapter 9 Institution.

General Regulatory Experience

Data Protection and Cyber
Electronic Communications & Transactions Act
The Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication - Related Information Act
Financial Intelligence Centre Act
Consumer Protection Act
National Credit Act
Promotion to Access to Information Act

Career

Reading towards LLD (Data Privacy)
CIPP/E (Certified International Privacy professional), 2018
MBL, University of South Africa, 2003 (Received Old Mutual Medal Best Dissertation)
Admitted as an Advocate, 1992
LLB, North-West University, 1991
BCom, North-West University, 1988

Highlights

Euromoney Women in Business Law Expert Guide 2022 | Leading Female Practitioner in Competition | Leading
Female Practitioner in Data Protection and Cybercrime
Ahmore Burger Smidt | GDR - Women in Data 2022, 2023
Head Enforcement and Exemptions Division of the South African Competition Commission and Deputy Commissioner;
Convenor, speaker and participant at local and international conferences and seminars on competition law and data
privacy;
Ranked leading lawyer (Band 4) by Chambers Global | 2017, 2019 – 2022, 2024 | 2025 Competition/Antitrust
Ranked as a recommended lawyer by Legal 500 | 2012, 2016, 2017 - 2022, 2024 | Competition
Advises various SouthAfrican and international clients on various aspects of data privacy including amongst others –
- Data Privacy and whistleblowing
- Cross border personal information transfers
- Compliance with POPIA
- Compliance with the GDPR
Ahmore was responsible for competition merger notifications in transaction nominated for the DealMakers' Private Equity
Deal of the Year award, including the winning transaction Ethos Private Equity's disposal of Plumblink (Pty) Ltd to Bidvest
Ltd and the nominated transaction between Fairvest Property Holdings Limited and Arrowhead Properties Limited.
Ahmore has been appointed by the South African Information Regulator as advisor.

Authorships

Author: OneTrust DataGuidance | Madagascar, 2022-date
Co-author: Data Protection Law and Practice, LexisNexis, 2022 2nd edition
Co-author: Email Marketing Consent and Disclosures (South Africa), Thomson Reuters, 2021-date
Co-author: Email Marketing Compliance: South Africa, Thomson Reuters, 2021-date
Co-author: A Commentary on the Protection of Personal Information Act, LexisNexis, 2018 1st Edition
Published several articles on application of competition law in local and foreign journals
Published several articles on data privacy