As part of the RestoreDataRights project, Open Institute and DataReady are compiling a set of research briefs that explore how key provisions of the RestoreDataRights Declaration are translated into law and practice across four jurisdictions: Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and Nigeria. The purpose of this series of briefs is to establish an evidence-base of current data governance and use practices and to identify where advocacy opportunities may arise for civil society to improve the transparency, inclusiveness and accountability of governments’ pandemic response.
This brief explores data governance and protection issues as they relate to the pandemic response in South Africa. This analysis is based on independent qualitative research, complemented where relevant by a comparative legal analytical lens. This involved the collection of data from a diverse set of online resources including, among others, law reports, case law databases, news reports, publications by international organisations, government publications, government policy statements, and academic journal articles. The findings of this research are set out below, with a list of the sources explored at Appendix I. For certain analytical fields, no relevant online information was identified despite an extensive desk search of online information having been conducted. The desk search primarily relied on general and legal search engines, and derivative sources.