Privacy Policy & POPIA Notice

Yavele Consulting (Pty) Ltd ("Yavele", "we", "us") respects your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, store and protect personal information in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) and the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA).

1. Who we are (the responsible party)

Responsible party	Yavele Consulting (Pty) Ltd
Address	137 11th Rd, Carlswald, Midrand, 1685, South Africa
Information Officer	The Director, Yavele Consulting (Pty) Ltd
Email	info@yaveleconsulting.co.za (subject line: "POPIA")
Phone	+27 64 662 6857

2. Personal information we collect

From website visitors and enquiries

Name, email address, phone number and business name you enter in our contact form, WhatsApp or email.
The content of your message and the service you are interested in.
Basic technical information (such as browser type and pages visited) only if you accept analytics cookies.

From clients

To provide accounting, tax, payroll and company secretarial services we may process:

Identity information: full names, ID or passport numbers, dates of birth, addresses.
Tax information: income tax, VAT, PAYE and other tax reference numbers, SARS correspondence and eFiling records.
Financial information: bank statements, invoices, accounting records, asset and liability details.
Company information: CIPC records, directors, shareholders and beneficial owners.
Employee information (for payroll clients): names, ID numbers, salaries, bank details, tax and UIF details of your employees.

Some of this may relate to juristic persons (companies), which are also protected under POPIA. We do not intentionally collect special personal information (such as health or religious information) unless required for a specific tax matter (for example medical expense claims), and then only with your consent or where the law allows it.

3. Why we process your information

To respond to enquiries and provide quotes.
To deliver the services you engage us for: bookkeeping, tax returns, payroll, financial statements, CIPC filings and advisory.
To submit returns and correspondence to SARS, CIPC, the Department of Employment and Labour and other authorities on your behalf.
To meet our legal and professional obligations, including the Tax Administration Act, the Companies Act and the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) where applicable.
To invoice you and manage our client relationship.
To send service-related updates and, only if you opt in, tax deadline reminders.

We will not use your information for any purpose that is not compatible with the purpose for which it was collected.

4. Lawful basis for processing

We process personal information only where section 11 of POPIA allows it: with your consent; to conclude or perform our engagement with you; to comply with a legal obligation; or where it is in your or our legitimate interest. You may withdraw consent at any time. This does not affect processing that was already lawful.

We never sell your personal information. We only share it where necessary with:

Regulators and authorities such as SARS, CIPC and the Department of Employment and Labour, to fulfil our services.
Trusted operators who process data on our behalf, such as our cloud accounting software (Xero), secure email and document storage, and our website host (Netlify) for contact form submissions. They are bound by written agreements to keep your information confidential and secure (POPIA sections 20 and 21).
Professional bodies, auditors or legal advisers where required by law or professional standards.

6. Cross-border transfers

Some of our service providers (such as cloud accounting, email and website hosting) store data on servers outside South Africa. We only use providers in countries with adequate data protection laws, or that are bound by agreements giving protection substantially similar to POPIA, as required by section 72.

7. How we keep your information secure

Encrypted connections (HTTPS) on our website and encryption on our cloud systems.
Password-protected, access-controlled systems with multi-factor authentication where available.
Access limited to staff who need it for your work, all bound by confidentiality.
Secure document exchange. Please do not send ID numbers or bank details through our website form.
Regular review of our safeguards.

If we have reasonable grounds to believe your personal information has been accessed by an unauthorised person, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as required by section 22 of POPIA.

8. How long we keep it

Information	Retention
Website enquiries from non-clients	Up to 12 months, then deleted
Tax and accounting records	At least 5 years from the date of submission, as required by the Tax Administration Act, or longer where the law requires
Company records	As required by the Companies Act (generally 7 years)
FICA client verification records	5 years after the business relationship ends

After that, records are securely destroyed or de-identified.

9. Cookies and our website

Our website does not use advertising cookies. We store one small preference on your device to remember your cookie choice. Analytics cookies are only used if you click "Accept all" or enable them in settings. You can change your choice at any time using .

Some photographs on our website are loaded from Pexels (an image library). When a page loads, your browser requests these images from Pexels' servers, which receive standard technical information such as your IP address and browser type. We do not share any other information with Pexels.

Our office map is provided by Google Maps and only loads if you click "Show map". Google then receives your IP address and may set its own cookies, under Google's privacy policy. Links to our Google Business Profile and reviews open on Google's website.

10. Direct marketing

We only send marketing messages, such as tax deadline reminders and newsletters, if you have opted in or are an existing client receiving information about similar services, as allowed by section 69 of POPIA. Every message includes a free way to unsubscribe.

11. Your rights

Under POPIA you have the right to:

Know whether we hold personal information about you, and request access to it.
Request correction or deletion of information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date or obtained unlawfully.
Object to processing on reasonable grounds, and to direct marketing at any time.
Withdraw your consent.
Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator.

To exercise these rights, email info@yaveleconsulting.co.za with the subject "POPIA request". We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request, and we will respond within a reasonable time.

12. Access to information (PAIA)

You may request access to records we hold under PAIA. Requests can be made to our Information Officer using the prescribed PAIA form (available from the Information Regulator's website) or by email to info@yaveleconsulting.co.za. Prescribed fees may apply. Our PAIA manual is available on request at no charge.

13. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, please contact our Information Officer first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Regulator:

Information Regulator (South Africa)	Website: inforegulator.org.za Email: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za Toll free: 0800 017 160

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always be on this page with the date it was updated.