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The personal information your cellphone store receives when opening
cellular accounts will qualify as personal information in respect of those
clients who will also be seen as data subjects for purposes of POPI.
Your actions of collection, storing and passing such information on to
cellular providers will qualify as processing and since you determine
the purpose of the processing, will qualify your business in this context
as a responsible party under POPI. This means that POPI will apply to
your business and that you will need to ensure that all your processing
actions in relation to personal information is POPI compliant.
Commercial Given that you also pass personal information on to other parties for

specific actions in respect thereof, this may also be seen as passing
information on to operators. This would require that you put proper
operator agreements in place to ensure that the operators meet the
requirements of POPI as you remain responsible for the operator’s
actions in terms of POPI.
Our advice is to seek the assistance of a POPI specialist to review your
business and how you process personal information to ensure that the
correct compliance framework, procedures, client forms and contracts
are put in place to ensure you meet all facets of POPI.
How carefully must a trustee step when it
comes to buying trust property?

August 2017

“I’m a trustee on the family trust of a deceased friend where I’ve
helped look after the family assets in the trust for his children.
Part of the trust property is a beach property that the children
want sold and that has been on the market for quite a while.
I’ve been toying with the idea of buying the property myself
and I’m sure the children wouldn’t mind, but am hesitant to do
so because of my position as trustee. Can I consider buying
the property from the trust or would that be wrong?”

Because of the unique nature of a trust and also the fiduciary
responsibility that a trustee holds in respect of the trust property and
trust beneficiaries, buying property from a trust, should rightfully be
approached with caution where you are also a trustee of the trust.

To determine a trustee’s right to benefit from a trust in which he holds
the position of trustee, one must carefully look at the fiduciary duties of
a trustee. In the first instance, section 9(1) of the Trust Property Control
Act 57 of 1988 states that trustees must, in the performance of their
duties and in exercising their powers, act with the care, diligence and

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