President Cyril Ramaphosa has reappointed advocate Pansy Tlakula as chairperson of the Information Regulator.
Advocate Lebogang Stroom-Nzama and Advocate Collen Weapond have also been reappointed as full-time members of the Information Regulator.
They will all serve a second term with effect from December 1, and will be joined by new appointee Mfana Gwala as a part-time member.
They will serve alongside current part-time member Alison Tilley, who was appointed in December 2020.
Gwala joins the Information Regulator with more than ten years’ experience in public administration matters, employment and labour, constitutional litigation, procurement disputes, commercial litigation and alternative dispute resolution. He has also served as an executive member of the Law Society.
“As members of the Information Regulator, we are entrusted by Parliament with the responsibility of ensuring the protection of rights of members of the public, in so far as these rights relate to access to information and protection of their personal information,” Tlakula said.
“We are grateful for the stellar contribution of our former colleagues Professor Tana Pistorius and Professor Sizwe Snail ka Mtuze, and we continue to build on the solid foundation that these two former colleagues helped to build,” she said.
During the previous five-year term, members of the Information Regulator built a strong administration by successfully filling all executive positions and establishing an administration led by Information Regulator CEO Mosalanyane Mosala.
“What started as a team of five in 2016 has now grown to a team of 84 staff members. In addition, the regulator undertook numerous robust stakeholder engagement sessions, engaging with responsible parties monthly, to assist with interpretation of the provisions of the two laws. The members were instrumental in the development of guidance notes, which provided much-needed guidance to responsible parties and equipping them to be Protection of Personal Information Act and Promotion of Access to Information Act compliant.”
Pistorius and Snail ka Mtuze served as part-time members in the inaugural term and played an integral role and were instrumental in the establishment of the regulator. Pistorius served for four years before her resignation in September 2020 following the relocation of her family. Snail ka Mtuze served the full term but did not make himself available for reappointment.
Tlakula expressed her sincere gratitude for their contribution to the institution and lauded their expertise in cyber-laws and information and communications technology laws, which made a significant contribution to the work of the regulator.