Privacy Policy
Voice of Disability NPC ("we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting your personal information. This policy explains how we collect, use, store and protect your data in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) and other applicable South African law.
1. Who we are
Voice of Disability is a registered non-profit company (NPC) based in Cape Town, South Africa. We are an organisation led by disabled women, working to remove barriers through advocacy, Universal Design and community programmes.
We are the Responsible Party for your personal information as defined in POPIA.
Contact details for privacy matters:
Email: fadila@voiceofdisability.com
2. What personal information we collect
We only collect personal information that is necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. This may include:
- Contact information — your name and email address when you sign up for our newsletter, contact us, or become a member.
- Membership information — details you provide when joining Voice of Disability, including information about your disability where you choose to share it.
- Donation information — your name and email address when you make a donation. Payment processing is handled by PayFast; we do not store your card or banking details.
- Communications — any information you share when you contact us by email or through our website contact form.
- Usage data — basic, non-identifying information about how our website is used (page visits, browser type), collected through standard web hosting logs.
3. Why we collect it (lawful basis)
We collect your personal information on one or more of the following lawful grounds under POPIA:
- Your consent — for example, when you subscribe to our newsletter or sign up as a member.
- Legitimate interest — to operate our website and communicate with people who contact us.
- Contract — to process donations and fulfil membership obligations.
- Legal obligation — to comply with applicable South African law, including financial record-keeping requirements for NPCs.
4. How we use your information
We use your personal information to:
- Send you newsletters, programme updates and rights information you have subscribed to
- Process your donation and issue receipts
- Manage your membership
- Respond to your enquiries and requests
- Improve our website and programmes
- Meet our legal and regulatory obligations as a registered NPC
We will not use your information for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects on you.
5. Who we share your information with
We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information. We may share it only in these limited circumstances:
- PayFast — our payment processor, for processing donations securely. PayFast has its own privacy policy available at payfast.co.za.
- Supabase — our database provider, which stores membership and donation records securely.
- Legal requirements — where we are required to disclose information by law, court order or governmental authority.
All third-party service providers we use are required to keep your information confidential and to use it only for the purposes we specify.
6. How long we keep your information
- Newsletter subscribers — until you unsubscribe.
- Donation records — 5 years, as required by South African financial regulations applicable to NPCs.
- Member records — for as long as your membership is active, and up to 2 years after it ends.
- General enquiries — up to 12 months after the enquiry is resolved.
7. Your rights under POPIA
You have the right to:
- Access — request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
- Correction — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information
- Deletion — ask us to delete your information (subject to our legal obligations to retain certain records)
- Object — object to the processing of your information in certain circumstances
- Withdraw consent — where we rely on consent, withdraw it at any time (this will not affect anything done before withdrawal)
- Complain — lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforegulator.org.za
To exercise any of these rights, email us at fadila@voiceofdisability.com. We will respond within 30 days.
8. Cookies
Our website uses only functional cookies necessary for the site to work (such as keeping you logged in to the member portal). We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. You can disable cookies in your browser settings, but this may affect some features of the site.
9. Security
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against loss, misuse and unauthorised access. Our website is served over HTTPS. Payment processing is handled entirely by PayFast on their secure servers — we never see or store your payment card details.
No method of data transmission over the internet is 100% secure. If you believe your information has been compromised, please contact us immediately.
10. Contact us
For any questions about this policy or to exercise your rights, contact:
Voice of Disability NPC
Cape Town, South Africa
Email: fadila@voiceofdisability.com
We may update this policy from time to time. The most current version will always be available on this page, with the date of the last update shown at the top.