South Africans plagued by spam calls will have to wait another seven months to use the government’s new National Opt-Out Registry, despite its launch in Pretoria on Wednesday. The marketing industry’s own do-not-contact list, which the regulator says it won’t recognise, isn’t going anywhere.

The National Consumer Commission (NCC), which runs the free registry, said consumers will only be able to block direct marketers from May 2027. That is 10 months later than it promised in April, when it said “registration of direct marketers and consumers will commence in July 2026”. Marketer registration also slipped, opening only on 15 September. The NCC gave no reason for either delay.

The delay is the latest chapter in a 15-year saga. The Consumer Protection Act, in force since 2011, gave consumers the right to block direct marketing and allowed the NCC to set up a registry for the purpose. That year, TechCentral reported on the case the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa was making to run it. Only on 15 April 2026 did trade, industry & competition minister Parks Tau gazette regulations handing the job to the NCC.

The NCC cited Truecaller data showing 17.5 billion spam calls in South Africa in the first half of 2026, up 25.2% year on year. But the registry will do nothing to stop scam calls. Truecaller’s numbers include criminal scams, Channel Africa reported, while the registry relies on marketers registering and complying.

Tau said at the launch, according to government’s news agency, that South Africa ranks ninth in the world for spam call intensity, with nearly 30% of calls from unknown numbers classified as spam or fraudulent. “Scam and marketing networks are becoming more sophisticated, using spoofing and artificial intelligence to reach consumers,” he said.

Direct marketers have until December to register. From December to April 2027, they can clean their lists against the registry free of charge.

“From 15 April 2027, the commission will enforce the law in full,” Tau said, The Citizen reported. That is about two weeks before consumers can block anyone.

A rival list

The Direct Marketing Association, which has run its own do-not-contact list for almost two decades, has no plan to switch it off, even though the NCC said in July it would not recognise private opt-out services when handling complaints, law firm Michalsons reported.

“We are under no obligation to stop the service to our members, as we have amassed over a million of the most sensitive customers and businesses who find the system a much-needed service,” association CEO David Dickens told TechCentral.

He said the association’s complaints team mediates when businesses keep calling consumers who have opted out, and escalates serious violations to the Information Regulator. The state registry, he warned, “will need a lot of publicity and investment to reach consumers and win their trust to share their ID number and cell information on a larger scale”.

The Direct Marketing Association is in talks with the National Consumer Commission (NCC) and acting commissioner Hardin Ratshisusu, was invited to Wednesday’s briefing and is “currently submitting plans to assist as requested”, Dickens said. Handing its list to the commission “is an option”, but the association would need guidance from the Information Regulator, “as the data was placed on the system for a specific purpose”.

The NCC published draft compliance guidelines in the Government Gazette on 2 October, with public comment closing on 17 October. Under the draft, “historical or existing consent is invalid once a consumer registers a pre-emptive block”.

The regulations set a 2026 registration fee of R2 574 and an annual renewal fee of R1 930.50. The cleansing fee, charged “per data entry”, rises from 14c in 2027 to 18c in 2029, ENS notes.

The draft guidelines charge that fee only for consumers who have registered a block. But in an analysis of the draft, ENS warns that the regulations’ wording “may mean that the entire database attracts the fee each time it is cleansed”. On that reading, a marketer cleansing a million records a month would pay R140 000/month at 2027 rates, or R1.68-million/year. TechCentral has asked the NCC to clarify. The guidelines are not binding, though anyone applying the act must take them into account.

Fines of up to 10% of turnover

Marketers who flout the rules face administrative penalties of up to R1-million or 10% of annual turnover, whichever is greater, the NCC said in April. In serious cases, the draft guidelines add, offenders may be prosecuted and face a fine or up to 12 months in prison.

Until May 2027, consumers’ main shield remains the Protection of Personal Information Act (Popia), whose rules the Information Regulator amended last year to make clear that an opt-out is not consent.