What the law requires before the first call

Two statutes apply at once, and where they overlap the more protective provision governs. Neither is optional, and both changed recently enough that a playbook written in 2023 is now wrong.

POPIA section 69

Direct marketing by unsolicited electronic communication is prohibited unless the person has consented or is an existing customer. The Information Regulator’s Guidance Note on Direct Marketing, issued on 3 December 2024, states that an outbound telephone call is an electronic communication for this purpose. That moves telephone marketing from opt-out to opt-in. The Guidance Note is advisory rather than binding, and the Regulator says POPIA prevails on any inconsistency, but it is the position the Regulator will enforce to.

Consent, in the prescribed form

Consent is recorded on Form 4, which must name the goods or services being marketed, record the preferred communication method and offer a genuine choice between giving and refusing consent. The onus of proving consent sits with the responsible party, which in practice means you must be able to produce the record for any given number.

The existing-customer route

Section 69(3) allows contact without prior consent only where you obtained the details in the course of a sale, you are marketing similar products or services, and the person was given a chance to object at collection and on every subsequent contact. It is narrower than it is usually treated as being.

The CPA opt-out registry

Section 11 of the Consumer Protection Act has always given people the right to pre-emptively block direct marketing, but for years there was no official registry to record it in. The Consumer Protection Act amendment regulations took effect on 15 April 2026 and created one, administered by the National Consumer Commission, with registration of direct marketers and consumers commencing in July 2026. Marketers must register, renew annually, and cleanse their databases against the registry monthly. The administrative penalty is up to R1 million or 10% of annual turnover, whichever is greater.

Calling hours

Consumers may not be contacted for direct marketing on Sundays or public holidays, on Saturdays before 09:00 or after 13:00, or on any other day after 20:00 or before 08:00, unless they have agreed otherwise. This is a scheduling constraint your dialler should enforce, not a policy your team is asked to remember.

Dialler types, and what each one costs you

Dialling mode is where throughput and compliance risk trade against each other. The difference between them is who waits: the agent, or the person being called.

South Africa publishes no cap on abandoned calls. The benchmark most platforms are built around is the UK’s, where Ofcom’s statement of policy on persistent misuse limits abandoned calls to 3% of live calls per campaign over any 24 hour period, requires unanswered calls to ring for at least 15 seconds, requires an information message within two seconds of an abandoned call being answered, and imposes a 72 hour wait before calling that number again. Since nothing obliges a South African vendor to hold to it, put the target in your contract instead of assuming it.

What to check before you buy a platform

1. Suppression applied at dial time

   An opt-out that is applied when a list is uploaded is not good enough, because someone who opts out on Tuesday is still on Wednesday’s live campaign. The check has to happen at the moment of dialling.

2. Consent evidence per record

   Ask the vendor to show you how a single contact’s consent record is retrieved and exported. If the answer is a spreadsheet somewhere else, the onus of proof will fall on you with nothing to discharge it.

3. Calling windows enforced by the system

   The permitted hours should be a campaign setting the platform refuses to dial outside, including public holidays. Enforcement by policy alone fails on the first busy Saturday.

4. Recording retention you control

   POPIA section 14 requires that records are not kept longer than the purpose requires. Call recording retention should be a policy you set, with deletion that actually happens, not unlimited storage sold as a benefit.

5. Verified caller ID

   Outbound presentation must use a number you hold. Providers that let you present anything at all are creating regulatory exposure for you, as covered under number masking.

6. Disposition reporting that reconciles

   Outcomes per agent, per campaign and per list, in a form you can reconcile against the dialled volume. Without it you cannot tell a list quality problem from an agent performance one.