Privacy Policy

Effective Date: March 4, 2026

SOUTHAFRICANEWS24.com ("we", "us", or "our") is committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 (POPIA) of the Republic of South Africa. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information when you visit or interact with our website.

1. Information We Collect

We may collect the following categories of personal information as defined under POPIA:

Identifying information: name, username, and profile details provided during registration or when commenting.
Contact information: email address, phone number, and postal address where voluntarily provided.
Technical information: IP address, browser type, device identifiers, operating system, and time zone, collected automatically through server logs and cookies.
Behavioural information: pages visited, time spent on site, referring URLs, and interaction data collected through analytics tools.
Correspondence: content of messages sent to us via contact forms or email.

2. How We Use Your Information

We process personal information for the following purposes, relying on the lawful grounds set out in POPIA:

To operate and deliver our news content and website services (legitimate interest / contractual necessity).
To respond to queries and provide support to our readers (legitimate interest).
To send editorial newsletters or updates where you have subscribed and provided consent (consent).
To conduct anonymised audience analytics to improve our editorial offering and user experience (legitimate interest).
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations under South African law (legal obligation).
To protect the security and integrity of our website and prevent misuse (legitimate interest).

3. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected, or as required by South African law. Our retention periods are as follows:

Account and registration data: retained for the duration of your account and up to 3 years after closure.
Newsletter subscription data: retained until you unsubscribe.
Server log and technical data: retained for up to 12 months.
Legal and compliance records: retained for up to 5 years in accordance with applicable South African statutory requirements.

4. Third-Party Services

We may share personal information with trusted third-party service providers strictly to the extent necessary to operate our website, including:

Hosting and cloud infrastructure providers that store and process data on our behalf.
Analytics providers (such as Google Analytics) that process anonymised usage data to help us understand audience behaviour.
Advertising networks that may display contextual advertising on our website.
Social media platforms where you engage with share or embed functionality.

We do not sell personal information to third parties. Any transfer of personal information outside the Republic of South Africa is subject to compliance with Section 72 of POPIA, ensuring adequate protection is in place.

5. Your Rights

As a data subject under POPIA, you have the following rights:

Right of access: to request confirmation of whether we hold your personal information and to obtain a copy thereof.
Right to correction or deletion: to request that we correct inaccurate or delete personal information we no longer have a lawful ground to retain.
Right to object: to object to the processing of your personal information on grounds relating to your particular situation.
Right to withdraw consent: to withdraw any consent previously given, without affecting the lawfulness of processing prior to withdrawal.
Right to lodge a complaint: to submit a complaint to the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforeg@justice.gov.za or by post to JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001.

To exercise your rights, contact our Information Officer at privacy@southafricanews24.com.

6. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal information, consistent with our obligations under Section 19 of POPIA. These measures include encrypted communications (HTTPS/TLS), restricted staff access, regular security reviews, and data minimisation practices. We will notify affected data subjects and the Information Regulator of any security compromise as required under POPIA Section 22.

7. Changes to This Policy

We may revise this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in legislation, technology, or our practices. Updated versions will be posted on this page with a revised effective date. We encourage you to review this policy regularly. Continued use of our website after changes are published constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

8. Contact Us

If you have questions, complaints, or wish to exercise your rights under POPIA, please contact our Information Officer:

Email: privacy@southafricanews24.com
Website: https://southafricanews24.com
SOUTHAFRICANEWS24.com is operated in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa.