OneTrust DataGuidance Research confirmed, on 25 August 2022, with Melody Musoni, Senior Subject Matter Expert at Southern African Development Community ('SADC') Secretariat, that the Minister of State President published a Transfer of Personal Data Order 2022 ('the Order') on 29 July 2022.

In particular, Musoni stated that, "The Botswana Data Protection Act 32 of 2018 [('the Act')] came into full effect on 15 October 2021. In terms of [the Act], transfer of personal data from Botswana to another country is prohibited [pursuant to Section 48(1) of the Act]. Section 48(2) of the same Act proceeds to state that notwithstanding the generality under Subsection (1), the Minister may, by Order published in the Gazette, designate the transfer of personal data to any country listed in that Order".

Furthermore, Musoni noted that, "[the] Order declared that personal data may be transferred from Botswana to 45 countries. Countries listed on this list include all countries covered by the European Union General Data Protection Regulation. In addition, New Zealand, Israel, Japan, Isle of Man, Guernsey, Switzerland, Uruguay, Republic of Korea, Andorra, Argentina, Faroe Islands, and Jersey are also listed".

In addition, Musoni confirmed that, "South Africa and Kenya are the only African countries on the list. While the Order does not provide an explanatory guide on how the Government of Botswana came up with this list, one can note that it could be because these countries have made progress in enforcing their data protection legal frameworks. The data protection laws in both South Africa and Kenya are both in full effect. Secondly, both jurisdictions have appointed independent data protection authorities to ensure enforcement with their respective data protection laws. Both South Africa's Information Regulator and Kenya's Office of the Data Protection Commissioner are now in operation and activities, like registration of data controllers, data processors, and information officers, are currently underway".

You can read the Order here.