The POPI Act / Sections / Section 10
Section 10
Minimality
Chapter 3 · Conditions for Lawful Processing · Condition 2, Processing Limitation
Personal information may only be processed if, given the purpose for which it is processed, it is adequate, relevant and not excessive.
Source: justice.gov.za, Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (official PDF), cross-checked verbatim before publishing.
Beyond the text
What this means for your estate
- This is the section that makes “collect everything, just in case” a compliance problem, not a safety win, recording continuous audio alongside CCTV footage, for example, is a common estate practice that fails “not excessive” if video alone would do.
- Biometric access systems are a frequent minimality trap: capturing a resident's full fingerprint template when a simpler access token would work is exactly the kind of processing this section restricts.
Relevant tool
PopiGuard's Personal Information Register flags collection that looks excessive against its stated purpose, before it becomes a finding, not after.