Vodacom endangered the life of my child

I am wholly disgusted with Vodacom tonight. My WhatsApp Number and the mobile I number I use for calls are two different numbers. This evening, I got a notification that my WhatsApp is no longer valid as it has been activated on another phone. After five months of functioning this way. There are no adjectives for the sheer panic that I felt.

There are photos of my child on WhatsApp, a group with my street address, work details, friends and family details. All of it now at the fingertips of a new Vodacom subscriber when Vodacom recycled the number.

Their call centre is inept. There are no contingency plans for the cluster**** their employer caused. Their response was the verbal equivalent of a shoulder shrug. Here is where I should probably apologise for the profanity the poor schmucks were subjected to while they answered in monotone… not going to happen. Especially after trying to argue semantics with me.

For all I knew, my child’s photos, my address, could be in the hands of a *****phile. Considering the rate of child abductions in Cape Town, this is a very real and valid concern. Vodacom’s response? “I can escalate it”. It escalated the moment they sold my information, which is essentially what happened.

Vodacom has violated my constitutional right to privacy, to safety and security. They have endangered the life of my child.

Their recycling process is short-sighted considering that I am, without a doubt, not the only person who has made use of the WhatsApp function that allows you to keep your original number when you change phones or sim cards. If activity is measured by voice calls and SMSes, they need to wake up and smell the Wi-Fi.

As someone who works for a financial service, I am too aware of how little information one needs to conduct comprehensive, invasive traces on individuals. It takes less than a minute to have someone’s personal details, financial details, details of family members, all in one convenient pdf.

What is RICA for? What is the point of having yourself RICA’d if Vodacom willy-nilly recycles numbers like it’s going to stop global warming? That number was RICA’d to my ID number. Why do we have to participate in this process, if Vodacom is quite content to hand out numbers like it’s last call at happy hour?

I’m aware that corporate is corporate and money talks. But my privacy and my child’s safety were sold for the price of a pre-paid sim card. Well done, Vodacom, this is a stellar new level of greed.

p.s this is a 1 star rating, because Hello Peter doesn't yet allow 0 stars.