The passing of the Data Protection Act in 2022 signalled a new dawn for the Kingdom of Eswatini and placed Eswatini at par with the world in the endeavour to protect personal information and uphold the right to privacy.The Act designates the Eswatini Communications Commission as the Eswatini Data Protection Authority (EDPA) charged with the responsibility to foster compliance with the Act.

Every January 28th,the world commemorates what has come to be known as the “Data Protection or Privacy Day”. This date marks the anniversary of the Council of Europe’s ‘Convention 108’ on the Protection of Personal Information which is the first legally binding international law on data protection which was open for signature in 1981.Since the establishment of the EDPA in 2022,the Kingdom of Eswatini has always joined the world in commemorating the Data Protection Day by embarking on various activities aimed at raising awareness on the protection of personal data.

This year the EDPA will again embark on a series of awareness raising activities commencing with the Data Protection week on 22nd January to 28th January 2025 through which various awareness activities will be undertaken.The Data Protection Day will be celebrated in ac onference to be held on 28th January 2028 at the Happy Valley Hotel under the Theme “Whose data is it anyway?”.

The Theme is thought provoking and challenges us to think about who owns the personal data that is being processed by entities in their capacity as data controllers and data processors.There are differing views even at global level as to who actually owns the data after it had been exchanged between the two parties, that is, the data subject and the entity processing the data. Expert panellists will interrogate this million-dollar question and the EDPA has lined up a wide range of experts from diverse sectors including churches, NGOs, Meta, the Legal fraternity, insurance sector and from the EDPA itself.

As we commence the data protection week,we urge everyone to lookout for our planned awareness campaigns that will be shared in all media platforms including ESCCOM social media.The activities are interesting and will include a webinar, public engagement in Manzini and Mbabane and other initiatives aimed at driving not only awareness but also foster compliance with the legislation.

I wish everyone a prosperous dataprotection week and our slogan is “If you can’t protect it, don’t collect it”.

ESCCOM Chief Executive

Mvilawemphi Dlamini