NON-SENSITIVE
DATA

(d) for public interest
(e)

for promotion of the legitimate interests of the data
controller or third party unless other fundamental
rights exist34

Consent is required
Section 10 of the Act provides for conditions of processing of
what the Act calls non-sensitive data. This is personal
information as defined above in Part I of the Act. The section
10 (1) starts off with consent as a condition of processing, for
a data subject or consent of guardian of minor.

Legitimate interests are different and wide. Using the guidance
developed for the GDPR, data controller must therefore consider
a test of what constitutes legitimate interest as this can be
subjective. This test has been used in courts35 and the three
aspects must be satisfied:
• Purpose test: are you pursuing a legitimate interest?
• Necessity test: is the processing necessary for
that purpose?

Consent is required but can be
implied
Section 10 (2) of the Act allows for consent not to be specific
or explicit, but it can be implied, if data subject is an adult.
The implied, does not mean that there are no other grounds
to process the data which the adult subject is aware of. This
Section introduces a ‘legal persona’. This term is not defined
in the Act, nor are there any indications of what this means
in relation to data processing. This means that other than a
natural identifiable data subject consenting, other forms of
legal existence such as companies, or trusts can consent to
data processing33.
If Chad Gore (natural person) registers a company Gore
Technologies (legal persona, juristic person) the
information of Gore Technologies on credit rating is then
processed by Credit Rating Bureau, then such information
constitutes juristic-personal information. It is not possible
to separate Gore Technologies from Chad Gore.

• Balancing test: do the individual’s interests override the
legitimate interest?

i ILLUSTRATION
Chad Gore Medical Scheme wants to process personal data
to remove fraudulent medical aid claims on grounds of
legitimate interests. First is this in the interests of Chad Gore
Medical business interests to ensure that medical aid claims
are genuine. Second, if legitimate interest is satisfied, then
consider whether processing of that specific personal
information is necessary. Necessity asks whether there are
other means to achieve the same objective which are less
invasive to privacy, for instance, the level of data collected,
do you need to know the medical conditions claimed for or
you will only need to know the claimed amounts?

Consent is not necessary
Section 10 (3) (a)-(e) of the Act lists instances were consent,
even implied consent is not required of the data subject,
natural or legal persona if the information is:
(a)

required for criminal offence proof

33

(b)

for compliance with law or controller requirement

34

See GDPR article 6(1)(f)

35

Rigas case (C-13/16, 4 May 2017

(c)

for protecting interests of data subject

18

M I S A

Z I M B A B W E

•

G U I D E

POPIA section 1, includes identifiable juristic persons in definition of
personal information.

T O

T H E

Z I M B A B W E A N

C Y B E R

A N D

D A T A

P R O T E C T I O N

A C T

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