The Information Regulator’s CIO has dedicated his career to enhancing processes, kickstarting entrepreneurial journeys, and driving innovation.
Tando Luyaba is the CIO of the Information Regulator, a relatively new organisation formed in 2016, with just five members. It expanded further, with executives joining around 2021, coinciding with the organisation gaining its enforcement powers. The Regulator’s core divisions include the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), and the education and communication divisions.
“IT’s role when I came on board was merely perceived as the division that provides support from a hardware and connectivity perspective, but I had a different vision for the organisation,” Tando explains. “I wanted to push the digital transformation agenda at the Regulator in an effort to make things more efficient for both the internal staff and external public from a process perspective.”
Seamless processes are nothing new for Tando, as he spent many years prior with the CIPC, where he led one of his biggest projects yet, the development of what is known today as BizPortal, an online platform where people can register a company, apply for B-BBEE, UIF, compensation fund, domain names, and even initiate the process of opening a business bank account, all on one platform.
“This was actually an after-hours project for me. It wasn’t in the CIPC’s plans, but was a gap I identified at the time – a need for an integrated system. Once I had a minimum viable product (MVP), I presented it to the commissioner, and he shared it with the Minister, and soon after that, it was launched by the President,” he notes.
Automating for the greater good
Tando applied the same blueprint at the Information Regulator because the processes at the time, he says, were still very manual and he wanted to automate them. “The Regulator had a very basic registration portal, where information officers would be able to register. However, there was no validation and the data was simply not good enough.”
Once again this inspired him to work on another after hours project called eServices, which went live just seven months after he joined the Regulator. “The eServices portal automates the registration of information officers. Each year, all organisations need to submit PAIA annual reports; they are also required to have PAIA manuals both on their websites and on their premises.
Tando went on to explain that public companies are not as compliant in this regard and the portal allows them to upload their PAIA manuals there, and anyone looking for those manuals can simply search for them on the portal. Automatically available records, which companies should already have readily available, can also be made available through the portal.
The Act itself is very complicated, especially for those not familiar with the law, and Tando came up with a solution for that as well. “I came up with a self-assessment questionnaire to help organisations understand whether or not they are complying with either the POPIA or PAIA Acts,” he says. “Today, organisations can check how they are faring and adjust accordingly in order to comply with the Acts.”
There’s even more in the pipeline: Tando shares he’s working on another project that’s going live this month, the Personal Privacy Score.
“The Personal Privacy Score is another assessment tool for checking how one handles one’s own personal information and those of others,” Tando explains. “How do you handle social media: do you post things about other people without their consent? Or do you ensure that you always have strong passwords?” These are examples of some of the questions the assessment tool would pose.
In the main, the personal privacy score assessment tool gages one’s cyber-security awareness and gives pointers for improvement.
“That’s just some of the fun stuff I get up to at the Regulator, but my ultimate vision is to see an e-government website with all government services all on one platform,” he notes.
The accidental developer
Tando’s not just a techie, but active too. He founded a local running club and although it lost its traction during the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s clear that he’s been running circles around people for a while now. His achievements from his late teens until this day speak for themselves.
Notably, Tando completed matric at the tender age of 15. He initially wanted to study medicine but was advised otherwise, and went the accounting route instead. However, Tando quickly realised that accounting wasn’t for him.
Nevertheless, it was during his time with Nelson Mandela University (formerly the University of Port Elizabeth) that Tando’s affinity for IT began. He entered a competition to redesign the institution’s website and actually won, which led to him pursuing a BSc in computer science at the University of Fort Hare.
His website design talents carried on as he entered the job market, mainly applying his skills in large government departments. He explains that his experience working on the front-end and interface of websites is what inspired his fascination with platforms like BizPortal and the like.
“There are multiple projects on the go at the moment, and that’s exactly how I like it! I’ve been with the Information Regulator for less than a year now, so I’m still in the process of building my new team, which will consist of both technical and soft skill sets.
“I plan to work closely with my team to push most of the incredible plans I have for the organisation across the finish line,” Tando concludes.
