Dear UP Community

As some of you may know, the Protection of Personal Information Act came into full force today. The Registrar established the Information Governance and Privacy Protection (iGaPP) Programme in 2019, to ensure that we comply with the principles of POPIA whenever we handle personal information. To learn more about iGaPP you can visit the iGaPP website.

What are the principles of POPIA?

We request that all staff familiarise themselves with the following four policies that are available on the Governance and Compliance policies page.

• The Information Governance Policy
• The Information Security Management Policy
• The Protection of Personal Information (Privacy) Policy
• The Records Management Policy

The policies are currently being revised to reflect the following appointments:

• Information Officer: The Vice-Chancellor and Principal as Information Officer
• Deputy Information Officers: The Registrar, Director IT, Vice-Principal Research, Vice-Principal Academic, all Directors and Heads of Professional Service Departments

We conducted several question and answer sessions on the implications of POPIA for student information, employee information and research information. You can access the recordings of these sessions on ClickUP.

To learn more about the implications of POPIA for public universities you can consult the USAf POPIA Guideline. There have also been two infographics that were created by USAf for general awareness purposes. They can be accessed on the Governance and Compliance policies page.

What does this mean for you?

POPIA compliance is a massive and never-ending endeavour and we need the assistance of all staff members to ensure that the University complies with the iGaPP policies. All staff who handle personal information have a responsibility to:

• follow the iGaPP Policies
• report any non-compliance or security compromises involving personal information by sending an email to [email protected]

Managers must ensure that staff are aware of the iGaPP Policies and to ensure that staff have the support they need to comply.  

More importantly, all staff members are also protected by POPIA. To learn more about how the University uses your personal information and what your rights are, please read the University’s employee privacy notice.

If you need assistance

If you have any questions, you can contact the iGaPP Team at [email protected]

Best regards,

Prof Caroline Nicholson

Registrar