Botswana: NGO urgers SADC governments to enact data protection laws
'Paradigm Initiative seeks data protection in the SADC region’ 29 January 2025
As the world commemorates Data Privacy Day, Paradigm Initiative (PIN), has called on countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that have not yet enacted data protection legislation to develop comprehensive legislation to safeguard individuals’ privacy rights. Data Privacy Day is observed annually since January 28, 2017, to promote awareness of best practices for data security and privacy protection. PIN, in a statement on Tuesday, commended Botswana which repealed its previous legislation on personal data protection and enacted a new Data Protection Act (DPA) on October 29, 2024. Botswana’s DPA came into effect on January 14, 2025, with new and commendable reforms that include data breach notification, Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) for high-risk processing, age and consent verification requirements, an expanded scope of data subjects’ rights and provides that the data of a child can be processed based on consent from a parent or guardian.
…PIN also commended Angola, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe for enacting data protection laws to protect data subjects’ privacy rights. PIN urges all relevant data protection authorities to ensure the implementation of the laws safeguards digital privacy. Despite these strides, however, it said “the absence of robust data protection legislation in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique and Namibia poses significant risks to individual privacy. “Comoros promulgated Law No. 14-031/AU of March 17, 2014 relating to Electronic Communications and DRC enacted order Law No. 23-010 of March 13, 2023 relating to the Digital Code.” Both laws have clauses on data protection which could be further strengthened by developing comprehensive laws on data protection to uphold individuals’ rights to privacy.
“In addition, the SADC Model Law on Data Protection and the African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection set compelling frameworks for the harmonisation of data protection laws and guide states on policy development regarding the protection of personal data. Without data protection laws, individuals in these countries are vulnerable to data breaches, misuse of their personal information, mass surveillance, discrimination and bias, without legal recourse.” PIN noted that underscores the importance of developing rights-respecting data protection legislation that safeguards data subjects’ rights, including the right to access, correct, and delete personal data, the right to data portability, and the right to object to data processing. “As such, we call for enactment of robust laws on data protection in Comoros, DRC, Mozambique and Namibia.”