The government is not using the regulations that allow it to track and trace contacts of those who test positive for Covid-19 to spy on South African citizens, communications, telecommunications & postal services minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said on Thursday.
Amended regulations gazetted on Thursday allow the director-general of health to direct mobile operators to provide information such as location and movements of any person who has tested positive for the virus. This includes information on people who were in contact with the person.
The information may be obtained only from March 5 until the national disaster lapses.
The information will only be for the health department's Covid-19 tracing database.
According to the regulations, it does not entitle the director- general of health or any other person to intercept electronic communications.
Ndabeni-Abrahams said the department of health would seek only the geolocation of people who have tested positive.
“We are not intercepting calls, even for people who tested positive,” she said.
“We do respect the fact that everyone has a right to privacy but in a situation like this our individuals rights do not supersede the country's rights.... The most important and critical right we are all working towards is ensuring the safety of everyone.”
Justice minister Ronald Lamola reiterated that the regulations did not mean people would be spied on.
He said there would be a retired judge designated to deal with the matter who would ensure the information retrieved for tracing was kept private.
Lamola said there would be a weekly report from the director-general of health to the designated judge to ensure that the information obtained was used to trace contacts of those found to be infected with Covid-19.
The designated judge would be appointed as soon as possible.
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