How to complain to the Data Protection Commission

Yes, a data subject can lodge a complaint with the Information and Data Protection Commission, and section 13(3) confirms it costs nothing to do so. Section 80 sets the right out directly: a data subject has the right to lodge a complaint with the Commission.

Once a complaint is lodged, the Commission has to keep the complainant informed, both of the progress of the complaint and of its eventual outcome. It is not meant to be a black box where a complaint disappears without a response.

The realistic path right now

The obstacle is practical, not legal. As explained on the Commission page, the IDPC did not have a permanent office, a public address, or a dedicated website as of the most recent available reporting, a Botswana Daily News report dated 29 July 2025. That makes the mechanics of actually lodging a complaint genuinely unclear at the moment, since there is no confirmed channel to point to.

Until the Commission publishes its own contact details, two practical options exist:

• Watch the Government Gazette or general Botswana news for the Commission’s contact details once its office and staffing are in place. This guide will be updated as soon as a reliable channel is confirmed.
• Raise the issue with the business directly first. Businesses processing personal data have obligations under data subject rights, including responding to requests to access, correct or delete personal data. See how to exercise your rights for how to approach a controller directly. Many complaints are really about a business not responding to a rights request, and that can often be resolved without the Commission at all.

If the business does not resolve the matter, the complaint to the Commission remains available under section 80 once a channel exists to lodge it through.

The separate right to compensation (s.81)

A complaint to the Commission is not the same thing as a claim for compensation, and pursuing one does not use up the other. Section 81 gives anyone who suffers material or non-material damage as a result of a contravention of the Act a right to compensation from the controller or processor responsible.

Two details matter here. First, where more than one controller or processor is responsible for the same contravention, section 81 makes them jointly and severally liable, meaning the affected person can pursue any of them for the full amount rather than having to chase each one separately for their share. Second, the party who pays has a right of contribution against the others responsible, so liability can still be sorted out between them afterwards.

Compensation claims sit alongside, not instead of, the Commission’s own enforcement powers under penalties and the appeal route described on appeals.