Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy ("Policy") is published by Elamilanga Web Design (Registration Number: 2016/3390/23), based in Boksburg, Gauteng, South Africa ("Elamilanga", "we", "us", "our"). We are the Responsible Party as defined in the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 ("POPIA").

This Policy applies to all personal information collected when you visit our website at web-design.elamilanga.co.za, submit an enquiry or booking form, engage our web design or related services, or communicate with us by any means.

We are committed to processing your personal information lawfully, with minimal interference with your privacy, and only to the extent necessary for the legitimate purposes described in this Policy.

We collect personal information in the following ways:

Information you provide directly:

• Your name, email address, telephone number, and WhatsApp number when you complete a contact or booking form on our website.
• Your business name, industry, and project requirements shared during consultations or in written communication.
• Any additional information you voluntarily provide in written correspondence, emails, or WhatsApp messages.

Information collected automatically when you visit our website:

• Technical data: IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, and referring URL, collected via web analytics tools.
• Usage data: Pages viewed, time spent on pages, and navigation patterns, collected in aggregate and anonymised form.
• Cookies: Session and functional cookies set by WordPress and any analytics tools. See Section 05 for full details.

We do not collect sensitive personal information (such as health information, race, religion, or financial account numbers) unless you voluntarily provide it, and only where necessary to deliver a specific service.

We use personal information collected only for the specific purposes described below and will not process it in a manner incompatible with those purposes:

• Service Delivery: To provide web design, development, hosting, and related services to you under a signed Service Agreement.
• Communication: To respond to enquiries, quotation requests, and project updates.
• Invoicing & Payments: To issue invoices and process or track payments for services rendered.
• Hosting Renewal Reminders: To notify you 30 days before your annual hosting renewal is due.
• Service Improvement: To analyse anonymous website usage data in order to improve our website's content and user experience.
• Legal Compliance: To meet our obligations under applicable South African law, including tax and record-keeping requirements under the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
• Marketing Communications: To send you information about our services or promotions where you have given explicit consent. You may withdraw this consent at any time.

We will never sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their own marketing or commercial purposes.

In terms of POPIA Section 11, we may only process your personal information if at least one of the following conditions is met:

Our website uses cookies — small text files stored on your device — to ensure certain functions work correctly and to understand how visitors use our site.

Cookies we use include:

• Functional cookies (WordPress): WordPress sets session-related cookies (e.g. wordpress_logged_in, wp-settings-{id}) to maintain basic site functionality. These are set only when a user is logged in to the WordPress admin area and are not set for regular visitors.
• Analytics cookies: Where a web analytics tool such as Google Analytics is active, anonymous, aggregate data about page views, session duration, and traffic sources may be collected. This data does not identify individual users.
• Embedded content: Pages on our site may include embedded content (e.g. maps, videos) from third-party providers, which may set their own cookies. We recommend reviewing the privacy policies of those providers.

Managing cookies: You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings at any time. Disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of our website. Most modern browsers provide clear instructions for managing cookie preferences in their Help menus.

In the normal course of delivering our services, your personal information may be shared with or processed by the following categories of third parties:

• Website & Email Hosting Providers: Our hosting infrastructure providers store and transmit the website and associated business email accounts. These providers operate under their own data processing terms and are contractually required to protect your data.
• Google Analytics: Where active, Google Analytics receives anonymised usage statistics. No personally identifiable information is shared with Google Analytics. Google's privacy policy is available at policies.google.com/privacy.
• Google Business Profile: We may create or manage a Google Business Profile on your behalf. Business information (name, address, phone, website) is published publicly on Google as part of this service.
• Payment Processors: Where payments are processed via a third-party payment gateway, your payment details are handled directly by that provider. Elamilanga does not store, access, or retain card or banking details.
• South African Revenue Service (SARS): We retain financial records as required under applicable South African tax legislation. This may include invoice records containing your business name and contact details.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to any third party for marketing or advertising purposes under any circumstances.

We retain personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, or as required by applicable South African law.

As a data subject under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013, you have the following rights in respect of your personal information held by Elamilanga Web Design:

To exercise any of these rights, please submit your request in writing to enquiries@elamilanga.co.za. We will respond within a reasonable time and, where required by POPIA, within 30 days of receiving your request. There is no charge for submitting a rights request, unless a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

Information Officer: In terms of POPIA Section 55, Elamilanga Web Design has designated an Information Officer who is responsible for ensuring that we process personal information in compliance with POPIA, for handling requests from data subjects, and for liaising with the Information Regulator. To contact our Information Officer, please write to enquiries@elamilanga.co.za.

Security Measures: We implement reasonable and appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information in our possession or under our control against accidental loss, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include:

• SSL/TLS encryption on our website (HTTPS) to protect data in transit
• Secure, password-protected hosting environment with regular security updates
• Access controls limiting personal information to authorised personnel only
• Regular security patches and software maintenance on all systems we operate

Security Breaches: In the event of a security compromise that involves personal information, we will notify affected data subjects and the Information Regulator of South Africa as required under POPIA Section 22, as soon as reasonably possible.

Some of the third-party service providers we use — such as Google Analytics and our hosting infrastructure — may process or store data on servers located outside of the Republic of South Africa.

In terms of POPIA Section 72, we may only transfer personal information to a foreign country if:

• The recipient country has laws that provide an adequate level of protection substantially similar to POPIA's requirements, or
• The recipient is contractually bound to provide a comparable level of protection, or
• You have consented to the transfer after being informed of the risks.

We take reasonable steps to ensure that any cross-border transfer of your personal information is subject to appropriate protections. For Google's data handling commitments, please refer to Google's Privacy Policy.

Children's Privacy: Our website and services are directed at business owners and adults aged 18 years and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 18. If you believe we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child, please contact us immediately at enquiries@elamilanga.co.za and we will take prompt steps to delete it.

Links to Third-Party Websites: Our website may contain hyperlinks to external websites, including social media platforms, Google, and other third-party services. This Privacy Policy applies only to our website and does not extend to those external sites. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of any third-party website, and we encourage you to review the privacy policies of any external sites you visit before providing your personal information.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, applicable legislation, or operational requirements. The "Last updated" date at the top of this Policy indicates when it was most recently revised. Continued use of our website after the revised Policy has been published constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

Where changes are material, we will take reasonable steps to notify existing clients directly. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically.

Contact Us: For any privacy-related queries, to exercise your POPIA rights, or to report a concern, please contact us at:

If you believe your rights under POPIA have not been respected and your complaint has not been satisfactorily resolved by us, you have the right to lodge a formal complaint with the South African Information Regulator: