The South African government − through the proposed data policy, the Draft National Policy on Data and Cloud − wants to be the co-owner of all data generated in the country.
This is according to law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, which says the policy has already attracted widespread debate among commentators, with many saying it raises issues around privacy and has the potential to scare off much-needed investment in the sector.
On 1 April, the minister of communications and digital technologies published a Draft National Data and Cloud Policy, together with an invitation for interested parties to submit written submissions to the department within 30 business days of publication of the draft policy, by 18 May.
However, the deadline has now been extended to 1 June.
Heather Irvine, partner at Bowmans, says the draft policy aims to transform SA’s economy into a digital economy that is both data-intensive and data-driven.
In particular, she says, the draft policy acknowledges the need to realise the socio-economic value of data through policy and law and to ensure open data, which is defined in the draft policy as “…data that is made freely available for use, re-use and republishing as [a party wishes], subject to ensuring protection of privacy, confidentiality and security in line with the Constitution”.
The draft policy proposes to develop a state digital infrastructure company and high-performance computing and data processing centre.
It also aims to consolidate excess capacity of publicly-funded data centres and deliver processing, data facilities and cloud computing capacity. Government also plans to develop ICT special economic zones, hubs and transformation centres.
Digital infrastructure
In its draft policy, the department states: “South Africa’s effective response to these challenges will depend significantly on ..
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