The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) is South Africa's data privacy law. If your website collects any personal information from visitors - even just a name and email address via a contact form - POPIA applies to you.
A few practical steps that help most small business websites move toward compliance:
- Add a clear Privacy Policy page explaining what personal information you collect, why, and how it's stored and used.
- Only collect information you actually need for a clear purpose - avoid asking for extra personal details "just in case".
- Use SSL (see our article on SSL certificates) so information submitted through forms is encrypted in transit.
- Keep any customer/contact data you store reasonably secure, and don't keep it longer than you need to.
- If you use cookies for tracking or marketing, consider a simple cookie notice.
This article is general guidance, not legal advice - for anything beyond a simple contact form (e.g. e-commerce, storing ID numbers, or marketing databases), it's worth having a professional review your specific compliance obligations.