Africa-Press – South-Africa. The police say they will abide by and ensure compliance with an Information Regulator ruling that ordered them to publicly apologise for violating several provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) by distributing personal information of the Krugersdorp gang rape victims.
This after the regulator said during a briefing on Tuesday the police had failed to take appropriate, reasonable, technical measures to prevent the unlawful accessing of personal information of the eight women gang-raped by a group of men in West Village, Krugersdorp, in July last year.
Regulator chairperson Pansy Tlakula said the police had failed to comply with their duty to notify the regulator and the victims of the security compromise, as prescribed in POPIA.
The regulator ordered the police to publish an apology to the victims within 31 days in major national weekly newspapers and on social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, for the “unlawful processing of the personal information”.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said they have noted the ruling.
Mathe added:
On Tuesday, Tlakula said the victims’ personal information had been circulated on social media following the leak.
Their names, ages, home addresses, and ID numbers were shared via WhatsApp after allegedly being leaked by police officers.
Tlakula added the POPIA division had received 895 complaints during the 2022/23 financial year, an increase of 30 compared to the previous year.
Of these, 616 were resolved.
She said the police had the right to appeal the regulator’s findings in the High Court, but if they failed to comply during the period stipulated, the regulator would issue an infringement notice.
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