Latest news with #ProtectionofPersonalInformationAct
Eyewitness News
2 days ago
- Business
- Eyewitness News
Spam calls NOT stopping? Here's what POPIA says and where you can report them...
Unwanted spam calls have consumers pulling their hair out in frustration. No matter who you are, how important you are or how much you earn, you are not exempt from these calls. RELATED: Rise in spam calls leads to increased use of caller identification apps The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) does not prohibit direct marketing but aims to strike a balance between the right to market and the right to privacy. The Act states that your telephone number can only be obtained from a legitimate source – in other words, you have personally given your contact details.
IOL News
01-07-2025
- Automotive
- IOL News
WATCH: IOL goes on exclusive aerial mission in SA's vehicle crime war
IOL went with Netstar to recover a hijacked vehicle, which was located successfully within an hour Image: Nicola Mawson It starts out as an exceptionally cold day – five degrees – when I arrive at Netstar's Global Fleet Bureau (GFB) in Midrand with the plan of going up in a helicopter on a mission to recover a stolen or hijacked car. The GFB contact center at Netstar's head office is the first point of call for people who have just been hijacked or come out of the shops and found their car stolen. Between verifying identities to ensure the call is legit and getting a response team on the ground or in the air, Contact Center Manager Rajan Algoppen, told IOL will take a maximum of 15 minutes in winter or at night, and that's because the bird needs to warm up. The recovery company reacts as quickly as possible while remaining securely within the boundaries of the law, such as complying with the Protection of Personal Information Act, and aspects such as air traffic control. Netstar's Global Fleet Bureau where calls are received Image: Nicola Mawson Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Calls coming into the contact center can vary from someone who has just been hijacked through to a stolen vehicle as well as people who are concerned about loved ones for a variety of reasons. Jeandre Koen, MD of Netstar SA, explained that it is increasingly seeing incidents of people being kidnapped. This, Koen said, is a bid by criminals to take the 'heat' away from them by having collateral. Ransoms, too, are on the increase, he said. Algoppen said that call center staff are specifically trained to help people deal with these sorts of difficult situations and they are also offered counselling so they can debrief. South Africans are being held for days, which also enables thieves to make best use of their smartphone banking app, pulling out the maximum cash, said Koen. He added that hijackers then dump people, usually naked and without a cellphone, somewhere very out of the way where the closest human can be as far away as a two-hour walk. 'They make it difficult to find your people.' The South African Police Service's (SAPS') crime stats for the period between October and December last year showed that there were 4 807 carjackings in those three months – 1 602 a month, although this a 20% decrease year-on-year. During the last quarter of 2024, there were 413 truck jackings. At the National Airways Corporation heliport close to Netstar's head office, a call comes in and the chase is on. Pilot Jaco spins up the blades on the Robertson R44 Raven 2, while airtracker Bongani starts tracking the car – a Kio Picanto. The car has been taken in Centurion and the helicopter is steered along its most likely escape route. Live agents back in the GFB, based on years of knowledge, help direct recovery efforts along likely escape routes. In the helicopter, Jaco pilots it north towards Centurion and the chase is on. While he's flying and liaising with various air traffic controllers such as at Midrand's Grand Central Airport, Bongani is checking the signal from the car and keeping an almost literal eagle eye out the windscreen and windows. The Kia is found a short while later, and the adrenaline rush is over barring the paperwork. Jaco explained that once the vehicle has been found, the chase is handed over to the ground crew who have also been tracking the car and liaising with the police. While the Kia was recovered, many other popular brands are taken for spare parts. Grant Fraser, Netstar Group MD, told IOL that, in addition to popular vehicles such as VW Polos, Toyota Fortuner and Hilux models as well as the Nissan NP 200 being stolen for replacements, 'we are starting to see the high value vehicles' being taken. Fraser noted models such as Land Cruisers and Prados were often used in cash in transit heists as they can force a security truck off the road. Other higher-end vehicles were also set to be shipped overseas or across Africa, added Koen. Grant Fraser, Netstar Group MD Image: Nicola Mawson Vehicle theft, said Fraser, is about economics. While patterns have changed in the past few years post Covid-19, the current trend the Altron unit has seen is that thefts often happen over weekends, while hijackings take place from Wednesday to Friday, said Koen – although this does vary. 'Crime goes to where people go,' Koen said. Koen also said that crooks sometimes used luxury cars as getaway vehicles after a cash-in-transit heist, with another option being for them to use something as innocuous as a Hilux, while 29 cases of cash-in-transit robberies were reported by the SAPS in the last quarter of 2024. Fraser added that the company, which also offers truck fleet management solutions, has seen an increase in theft of cargo such as cellphones, cigarettes, alcohol, as well as metals like copper. Netstar's Robertson R44 Raven 2 helicopter Image: Nicola Mawson Netstar, which recovers about 700 vehicles a month with a more than 90% recovery rate, tracks total vehicles movements that are equivalent to a road going to the moon and back 4.5 times every hour. Given the current landscape as well as the technology and data available to companies like Netstar, it has been accelerating innovation, said Fraser. He added that innovation 'is helping us to improve our recovery rate'. The company is also working with Business 4 South Africa to help build safe corridors, with new technologies being geared towards protecting drivers as well as what they are carrying in their vehicles. 'We save lives; that is the priority, and we do that every single day,' said Fraser. IOL
IOL News
01-07-2025
- Automotive
- IOL News
WATCH: IOL goes on exclusive aerial mission in SA's vehicle crime war
IOL went with Netstar to recover a hijacked vehicle, which was located successfully within an hour Image: Nicola Mawson It starts out as an exceptionally cold day – five degrees – when I arrive at Netstar's Global Fleet Bureau (GFB) in Midrand with the plan of going up in a helicopter on a mission to recover a stolen or hijacked car. The GFB contact center at Netstar's head office is the first point of call for people who have just been hijacked or come out of the shops and found their car stolen. Between verifying identities to ensure the call is legit and getting a response team on the ground or in the air, Contact Center Manager Rajan Algoppen, told IOL will take a maximum of 15 minutes in winter or at night, and that's because the bird needs to warm up. The recovery company reacts as quickly as possible while remaining securely within the boundaries of the law, such as complying with the Protection of Personal Information Act, and aspects such as air traffic control. Netstar's Global Fleet Bureau where calls are received Image: Nicola Mawson Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading Calls coming into the contact center can vary from someone who has just been hijacked through to a stolen vehicle as well as people who are concerned about loved ones for a variety of reasons. Jeandre Koen, MD of Netstar SA, explained that it is increasingly seeing incidents of people being kidnapped. This, Koen said, is a bid by criminals to take the 'heat' away from them by having collateral. Ransoms, too, are on the increase, he said. Algoppen said that call center staff are specifically trained to help people deal with these sorts of difficult situations and they are also offered counselling so they can debrief. South Africans are being held for days, which also enables thieves to make best use of their smartphone banking app, pulling out the maximum cash, said Koen. He added that hijackers then dump people, usually naked and without a cellphone, somewhere very out of the way where the closest human can be as far away as a two-hour walk. 'They make it difficult to find your people.' The South African Police Service's (SAPS') crime stats for the period between October and December last year showed that there were 4 807 carjackings in those three months – 1 602 a month, although this a 20% decrease year-on-year. During the last quarter of 2024, there were 413 truck jackings. At the National Airways Corporation heliport close to Netstar's head office, a call comes in and the chase is on. Pilot Jaco spins up the blades on the Robertson R44 Raven 2, while airtracker Bongani starts tracking the car – a Kio Picanto. The car has been taken in Centurion and the helicopter is steered along its most likely escape route. Live agents back in the GFB, based on years of knowledge, help direct recovery efforts along likely escape routes. In the helicopter, Jaco pilots it north towards Centurion and the chase is on. While he's flying and liaising with various air traffic controllers such as at Midrand's Grand Central Airport, Bongani is checking the signal from the car and keeping an almost literal eagle eye out the windscreen and windows. The Kia is found a short while later, and the adrenaline rush is over barring the paperwork. Jaco explained that once the vehicle has been found, the chase is handed over to the ground crew who have also been tracking the car and liaising with the police. While the Kia was recovered, many other popular brands are taken for spare parts. Grant Fraser, Netstar Group MD, told IOL that, in addition to popular vehicles such as VW Polos, Toyota Fortuner and Hilux models as well as the Nissan NP 200 being stolen for replacements, 'we are starting to see the high value vehicles' being taken. Fraser noted models such as Land Cruisers and Prados were often used in cash in transit heists as they can force a security truck off the road. Other higher-end vehicles were also set to be shipped overseas or across Africa, added Koen. Grant Fraser, Netstar Group MD Image: Nicola Mawson Vehicle theft, said Fraser, is about economics. While patterns have changed in the past few years post Covid-19, the current trend the Altron unit has seen is that thefts often happen over weekends, while hijackings take place from Wednesday to Friday, said Koen – although this does vary. 'Crime goes to where people go,' Koen said. Koen also said that crooks sometimes used luxury cars as getaway vehicles after a cash-in-transit heist, with another option being for them to use something as innocuous as a Hilux, while 29 cases of cash-in-transit robberies were reported by the SAPS in the last quarter of 2024. Fraser added that the company, which also offers truck fleet management solutions, has seen an increase in theft of cargo such as cellphones, cigarettes, alcohol, as well as metals like copper. Netstar's Robertson R44 Raven 2 helicopter Image: Nicola Mawson Netstar, which recovers about 700 vehicles a month with a more than 90% recovery rate, tracks total vehicles movements that are equivalent to a road going to the moon and back 4.5 times every hour. Given the current landscape as well as the technology and data available to companies like Netstar, it has been accelerating innovation, said Fraser. He added that innovation 'is helping us to improve our recovery rate'. The company is also working with Business 4 South Africa to help build safe corridors, with new technologies being geared towards protecting drivers as well as what they are carrying in their vehicles. 'We save lives; that is the priority, and we do that every single day,' said Fraser. IOL
IOL News
18-06-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
DA to report Nkabane to Ethics Committee for misleading Parliament
Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane is in hot water over the names of the independent panel that recommended chairpersons of SETA boards she disclosed to the Higher Education Portfolio Committee on Tuesday. Image: Archives The DA has threatened to report Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane to the Ethics Committee for allegedly misleading Parliament over the independent panel that recommended the chairpersons of the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs). This follows the much-anticipated disclosure on Tuesday when Nkabane finally revealed the names of the independent panel members to the Higher Education Portfolio Committee. Nkabane previously faced intense scrutiny for her alleged bias in selecting candidates for the SETA chairs, particularly those aligned with the ANC. During a recent heated session, she refused to disclose the identity of the panel members, only to promise to do so on compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading Nkabane's spokesperson, Camagwini Mavovana, confirmed that she had disclosed the panel members. 'The minister stands ready to account to the portfolio committee and to respond to further requests for information in this regard,' Mavovana said. The disclosed panel members are Advocate Terry Motau, who reportedly did not attend any meetings, Asisipho Solani, Nelisiwe Semane, Mabuza Ngubane, and Rhulani Ngwenya. The DA has raised concerns about some of the panel members. DA MP Karabo Khakhau said Solani is the ministerial advisor to Nkabane, Semane, the chief of staff in her office, Ngubane, the chief director responsible for SETA coordination, and Ngwenya, the department's deputy director-general for corporate services. Khakhau also stated that Nkabane failed to reveal all names, as one panel member's name was concealed due to their discomfort with being disclosed. 'The minister also concealed two other names from the National Skills Authority Selection and Evaluation Panel, as well as one from the Universities Council Ministerial Appointments, and the Selection and Evaluation Panel for the Council for Higher Education (CHE),' she said. Portfolio committee chairperson Tebogo Letsie welcomed the submission of a letter containing the names of panel members. Letsie said the committee has consistently held the view that Nkabane was constitutionally obligated to disclose the names of the panel members to Parliament. 'We are pleased that sanity has prevailed and that the minister has now complied with this requirement. The committee believes this disclosure should have occurred from the outset,' he said. Letsie stressed the importance of transparency and accountability in institutions funded by public resources. 'We are dealing with public institutions funded through parliamentary appropriations. It was therefore baffling that the committee had to strongly remind the minister of such a basic accountability requirement in our democratic governance system.' Letsie said the committee will now engage with the minister further on the processes followed in appointing chairpersons to lead South Africa's 21 SETAs. Khakhau said her party will refer Nkabane to the Ethics Committee. 'The DA will refer the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane, to the ethics committee for misleading the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher Education when she stated that all members of the Sector Education and Training Authority board chairpersons Selection and Evaluation Panel were independent,' she said.
TimesLIVE
11-06-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Higher education minister keeps up stonewalling on 'SETA panel'
Higher education and training minister Nobuhle Nkabane continues to dig in her heels over the submission to parliament of the names of the 'independent selection panel' she relied on to make controversial appointments to SETA boards last month. Nkabane had until the close of business on Wednesday to submit records and minutes of the meeting of the 'independent panel' that she says advised on the appointments of the chairpersons of Sector Education and Training Authorities that she was last month ordered to reverse by the presidency. But at the eleventh-hour on Wednesday, it emerged that Nkabane wrote a letter dated June 10 to Tebego Letsie, an ANC MP who chairs the portfolio committee on higher education, asking that the June 10 deadline be extended by a further 20 days, to June 20. The higher education committee had given her the deadline of June 11 last week after she refused to disclose the names and full details of her 'independent panel' at a heated meeting, with Nkabane citing the Protection of Personal Information Act. Nkabane landed in hot water several weeks ago after it emerged that she had appointed controversial and politically connected people to chair the boards of the SETAs. Among them were Buyambo Mantashe, the son of minerals minister Gwede Mantashe who was once deputised by Nkabane in that portfolio. Also on the controversial list were former KZN premier Nomusa Ncube-Dube, former KZN MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu and Johannesburg MMC Loyiso Masuku. The move has pitted Nkabane against President Cyril Ramaphosa, who first ordered her to withdraw the names and most recently also asked her to submit a report to him on the matter. Sources in the higher echelons are adamant that Nkabane's stonewalling on this issue is slowly catching up with her and she will soon run out of options, with some casting doubt on the existence of the 'independent selection panel'. In her letter to Letsie, which has since been shared with all members of the higher education committee, she placed on 'record and confirm my full intention to comply with the portfolio committee's request'. Again citing the POPIA and the Promotion of Access to Information Act, Nkabane said she needed more time to ensure that the information she was preparing to send to parliament would be disclosed in a lawful manner. She told her oversight committee that she had been 'assured that I am legally permitted to disclosed the panellists' details in a lawful manner'. 'For these reasons and in acknowledgment of the panellists' rights to privacy, I have written to each of the members of the selection and evaluation panel and advised them of my intention to comply with the portfolio committee's request. 'However, it remains unlikely that my engagements with them will be completed by the 11 June 2025 deadline. In the circumstances, and to allow the panel members an opportunity to respond to my letter or exercise whatever right they may have, I request an extension of the deadline to 30 June 2025.' The higher education committee was expected to discuss its response to Nkabane's deadline request in the coming days.
