The POPI Act / Sections / Section 13
Section 13
Collection for specific purpose
Chapter 3 · Conditions for Lawful Processing · Condition 3, Purpose Specification
(1) Personal information must be collected for a specific, explicitly defined and lawful purpose related to a function or activity of the responsible party.
(2) Steps must be taken in accordance with section 18(1) to ensure that the data subject is aware of the purpose of the collection of the information unless the provisions of section 18(4) are applicable.
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
- “Specific, explicitly defined” rules out vague purposes like “estate administration” on an intake form, the purpose has to be concrete enough that a resident understands exactly what their information will be used for.
- This section and s.18 (notification) work together, collecting for a specific purpose is only half the requirement; telling the data subject what that purpose is, is the other half.
Relevant tool
PopiGuard's intake forms require a stated purpose for every field collected, no vague catch-all categories.