By Annalise Kempen
Photos and images courtesy of Pixabay and Freepik
When the Protection of Personal Information (POPIA) Act 4 of 2013 came into effect in July 2021, most South African consumers hoped it would put an end to unsolicited e-mails and annoying spam calls. After all, the purpose of this Act is to uphold our constitutional right to privacy by protecting personal information when processed by a responsible party. According to the definitions in the Act, personal information includes “any identifying number, symbol, e-mail address, physical address, phone number, location information, online identifier or other specific details assigned to the person”. However, despite the implementation of POPIA, spam calls seem to have increased rather than decreased over the past few years.
This is not a misconception, as Truecaller’s 2021 global spam and scam report revealed that South Africa had the ninth-highest spam call rate in the world, with users receiving an average of 13.2 spam calls per month. Despite the legislative requirements that unsolicited communication may not be sent to consumers and that companies may only contact you when you opt-in to receive communication, consumers continue to be bombarded with direct marketing (My Broadband staff writer, 2023).
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[This is only an extract of an article published in Servamus: January 2026. This article is available for purchase.]