Hon Speaker and Members of Parliament, I am sure we have all been in situations where we would receive a phone call from a very persistent salesperson wanting to sell certain products to us. The question we always ask afterwards is: Where did this person get my name and number?
With the passing of this Bill, such phone calls will soon be a thing of the past, provided, of course, that the conditions set out in this Bill are adhered to. South Africans will not have to ignore private calls anymore for fear that the call might be from some insurance company wanting to sell its policies. This Bill aims to ensure that we can receive such phone calls, e-mails or SMSs only if we are customers of a certain organisation and have consented to the processing of our personal information.
This Bill provides a regime of consumer protection in this day and age when the Internet is borderless and computers have systems in place to store vast volumes of electronic data. In simple terms, this Bill becomes the measuring stick that will ensure that the processing and/or outsourcing of our names, addresses, e-mail addresses, ID numbers, employment history and health data to third parties are in compliance with international standards.
Many years ago our parents used to hide money under the mattress in an attempt to save it from unknown systems and people in banks that might be instrumental in the disappearance of this money. This Bill must be seen as the "mattress" that will protect South Africans from unknown systems and people that want to disclose our personal information to strangers. Cope supports this Bill. [Applause.]