POPIA Judgments and Cases

POPIA judgments or POPIA cases

You need to know about and possibly take action when the courts hand down POPIA judgments or POPIA cases. It is a critical part of ensuring that your organisation complies with data protection law. POPIA is a principle-based law and our courts apply the principles to real-world scenarios or activities. But how are you supposed to monitor all judgments on an ongoing basis to find the relevant ones, read them to understand what the latest POPIA judgments deal with, and decide what action you might need to take in response to them?  Impossible? Don’t worry, we do this for you.

We continually monitor and provide a plain-language summaries of all POPIA judgments or POPIA cases. Our summaries highlight what action you might need to take in response. We summarise any judgment that applies to POPIA. We do all the hard work for you to save you time.

What POPIA judgments or cases?

Essentially, we monitor and summarise any judgments that apply to the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA judgments). We also monitor and summarise data privacy judgments or cases in a South African context. Privacy is a broad topic and includes the various aspects like data privacy, the privacy of communications, bodily privacy, and surveillance. We focus on data privacy judgments but will include others if they are relevant.

Judgment summaries

Only some of the judgment summaries are linked below. To read all previous judgment summaries and be alerted to future ones, join the Michalsons data protection programme. If you are a member and you are logged in, you will be able to view the public as well as the “Members only” judgments.

Department of Basic Education enforcement action | Consent

The Information Regulator argues that it is unlawful for the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to publish matric results in newspapers using a learner's exam number without consent. The regulator issued an enforcement notice to the DBE and then fined […]

Digital Law Company v Meta | Extraterritorial application of South African law

In Digital Law Company v Meta, the High Court in South Africa (Gauteng Local Division Johannesburg) sanctioned a joint consent order in which Meta agreed to take a number of steps, including removing accounts, disclosing the subscriber information behind [...]

Lawyers must use AI professionally

Lawyers must use AI professionally to preserve the doctrine of precedent. There are a number of globally reported incidents (like fake case-law citations in the UK) illustrating where lawyers have failed to use AI professionally with significant consequences. There is [...]

Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA) v V2 Digital and Another | Data migration

Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA) v V2 Digital and Another case centres on data migration disputes and POPIA's provisions relating to data governance, after CETA terminated its ICT service agreement with V2 Digital. Who should care about this judgment [...]

De Jager v Netcare | Surveillance Evidence and POPIA

In De Jager v Netcare, the High Court considered whether surveillance evidence collected without consent was admissible under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). The case clarifies when personal information, including special personal information like health data, may be [...]

Munetsi v Madhuyu | Disclosure of personal information

Munetsi v Madhuyu and Another involves the disclosure of personal information on social media without consent. The applicant sued the respondents to stop sharing his personal information online. He also requested a public apology and punitive costs. The court ordered [...]

Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs (ENS) v Hawarden | BEC

In Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs(ENS) v Hawarden, ENS appealed the judgment handed down in Hawarden v Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs. The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) upheld the appeal and dismissed the original order from the high court. Hawarden may appeal this [...]

Hawarden v Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs (ENS) | BEC

In Hawarden v Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs (ENS), Hawarden succeeded in suing ENS for the loss of R5.5 million because of a Business Email Compromise (BEC). Hawarden was ENS' client.  The court said that ENS owed a general duty of care [...]

Smuts v Botha (SCA decision) | Freedom of expression

In Smuts v Botha, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) overturned a High Court judgment which ordered Smuts to take down parts of a Facebook post containing Botha's personal information. The SCA held that the information that Smuts published could […]

Botha v Smuts (High Court decision) | Freedom of expression

In Botha v Smuts, the court ordered Smuts to take down parts of a Facebook post containing Botha's personal information. The post had an image of Botha with his minor child, details about his business and his address. The court [...]

Discovery vs Liberty judgment | Data ownership

The Discovery vs Liberty judgment adds weight to the argument that the data subject and not the responsible party owns their personal data. Data protection law puts the control back in the hands of the data subject. It gives [...]

Black Sash Trust v Minister of Social Development

In Black Sash Trust v Minister of Social Development, the Constitutional Court agreed with the Information Regulator that data subjects own their personal information and that a responsible party cannot transfer the data subject's personal information to another party. [...]