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I lost my wallet with my credit card in it and a piece of paper on which I wrote down my new card pin number. Because I was hoping I may still find my wallet, I didn’t immediately stop my bank card. A few hours later somebody used my card to pay for food on the other side of town. I then immediately phoned the bank to stop the card and informed the bank that somebody else had my card and pin. The bank told me in that case the bank would not be liable for my losses. Is this true?

I understand that POPIA requires me to give consent for the use of my personal information and that a business cannot use my information without such permission. Although I am in favour of this approach, I was just wondering if I will now have to give consent every time or will I be asked to give consent once, but then it stays in place for ever? I don’t want to be bombarded with requests but at the same time I don’t want to be held to a consent I can hardly even remember giving. How is this going to work?

My business processes a large amount of personal information of clients. We have been anticipating the commencement of POPIA, but remain unsure as to when it will become operational. Can you give any feedback on the current status of POPIA?

I am a small commercial farmer. The roads in my region are mostly gravel and dirt roads and are generally in an atrocious state. This has a detrimental effect on the running of my farm as I often cannot get transport in or out of the farm. As these roads have not been maintained in years, a few farmers are considering repairing some of the roads ourselves. Should we continue with such repairs will we have a claim that Government reimburse us?

My company recently bought products from a local store. They sent the invoice, but the invoice details and VAT number was incorrect and we asked them to correct it as our bookkeeper said we can’t pay until a correct invoice was received. In the meantime we now see that the store started posting comments on Facebook saying our business was bankrupt and that we don’t pay our accounts and people should stay away from us. I contacted the store to remove the posts, but they refused and said they would only do so when we paid their account. Surely this is completely unacceptable conduct! What can we do?

I have a property portfolio and am constantly buying and selling properties. I’ve recently seen media reports that a new electronic deeds registration system is coming for South Africa. For me speed of sale and registrations is vital. Will this new system improve or worsen the current registration processes?

I hardly ever receive statements from my credit providers. Surely, they should be sending me regular statements so I can see what I owe them. What does the law say about this?

I have a suspicion that one of my branch managers is busy stealing stock and cooking the books. The numbers just don’t add up. I want to suspend him to allow a full investigation to be done, but don’t want to give him a heads-up so he can hide evidence. Can I suspend him immediately without giving him a chance to provide reasons so I can ensure that he leaves the premises? Please advise.

I have purchased some electronic products from a local store. They asked me for my contact details supposedly for warranty purposes on the product. Now they keep sending me SMS’s and emails to market their products. Surely they must first ask to me before they can do this?

I run a small franchise electronics store. I collect basic personal information from our customers that we keep on file and use for marketing notifications to our customers. The other day an upset customer demanded to know what personal information we have of her and said that the POPI Act gave her the right to request a complete copy of her personal information we have. We gave it to her, but I was just wondering whether she really has the right to ask for this?

I am both a smoker and business owner that sells cigarettes. I understand that new legislation is being proposed that will affect me as a smoker and my business. Is this true and what should I be preparing for?

I recently bought a second-hand car from a local car dealership. Not long afterwards the car started giving me trouble. When I took it back to the dealership, they said it was not their responsibility as the contract I had signed transferred all responsibility to me. They showed me the contract, but most of it was printed so small that I couldn’t even read it let alone understand it. Surely I should at least be able to read a contract to be bound by it?