Examining the impediments to compliance with the Botswana Protection Act at the Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS)

Purpose This paper aims to examine impediments to compliance with the Botswana Data Protection Act (DPA) emanating from records management at the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS). The goal is to provide recommendations in line with the UK Data Protection Code of Ethics (2007) to improve compliance with the DPA. Design/methodology/approach This paper applied a mixed research methodology and used questionnaires from 147 participants and interviews with 9 participants from a total population of 806 participants. Data from the questionnaires was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software Version 28 for descriptive statistics, whereas interviews were analysed using thematic analysis to identify themes and patterns. Findings The findings show that records management at BURS is not sound, thus undermining compliance with the DPA. The absence of an up-to-date records management policy, a procedure manual based on the records management function and a classification scheme illustrates this. Besides records management-related challenges, the findings also revealed a lack of awareness and understanding of the Act among BURS personnel and deficiencies in technical proficiency, regulatory guidance, management support and policies aligned with the Act. Practical implications The findings of this study can be used by policymakers (the government of Botswana, the judiciary and legislators) and other stakeholders to gain insight into compliance challenges and assist organisations in developing relevant policies, manuals and guidelines for data protection implementation in Botswana. Originality/value Research into the challenges of compliance with data protection legislation in Botswana is still in its infancy; hence, there is a need to provide insights and establish recommendations to improve compliance. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first research contributions to examine the impediments of compliance with the data protection law legislation in Botswana.