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The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) joined data protection authorities, civil society, and government bodies across the continent to observe the inaugural Africa Data Protection Day on September 21, 2026.
Serving as Zimbabwe’s Data Protection Authority and holding the role of Second Vice President in the Network of African Data Protection Authorities (NADPA), POTRAZ commemorated the occasion under the continental theme, “Protecting Data, Building Trust, Powering Africa’s Digital Future”.
The landmark annual observance marks the 2016 establishment of NADPA in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Over the past decade, the network has expanded to 34 member authorities dedicated to safeguarding citizens’ fundamental right to privacy and promoting responsible data governance within Africa’s evolving digital economy.
In a official statement, POTRAZ Director General Dr. Gift Machengete reaffirmed the regulator’s commitment to enforcing privacy principles including lawfulness, transparency, and accountability, under Zimbabwe’s Cyber and Data Protection Act [Chapter 12:07]. He emphasized that as rapid developments in Artificial Intelligence, cloud computing, and digital financial services shape the economy, robust data protection frameworks are essential to build consumer trust and support secure cross-border data flows.
Marking the milestone, POTRAZ issued a wide-reaching call to action across all sectors of society. Data controllers and public institutions have been urged to strictly uphold statutory obligations and embed privacy considerations into all service delivery mechanisms. The private pector and tech innovators have also bneen directed to adopt privacy-by-design frameworks and develop emerging technologies ethically with data protection as a default setting. Meanwhile the citizens and civil society are encouraged to understand and proactively exercise their data privacy rights while advancing digital literacy.
POTRAZ underscored that regional cooperation and shared accountability remain vital to building a secure digital ecosystem that puts African citizens first.
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