POPI Disclaimer

1. Responsible Party

Under POPIA, the entity that determines the purpose and means of processing personal information is called the Responsible Party.

• Business name: SolarZA
• Website: www.solarza.co.za
• Country of operation: Republic of South Africa
• Contact: Contact Us

2. Personal Information We Collect

We may collect the following categories of personal information, depending on how you interact with our website:

• Contact information — name, email address, phone number, and location (province or city) when you submit a quote request, contact form, or lead enquiry.
• Business information — company name, services offered, and contact details if you register or claim an installer listing.
• Usage data — pages visited, time on site, device type, browser, and referral source, collected automatically via analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics).
• Cookie identifiers — anonymous identifiers stored in cookies for analytics and functionality purposes.

We do not intentionally collect special personal information (e.g., race, health data, biometric data) as defined in section 26 of POPIA.

3. Purpose of Processing

We process personal information only for specific, explicitly defined, and lawful purposes, including:

• Connecting you with solar installers and service providers in your area.
• Responding to enquiries, quote requests, and contact form submissions.
• Managing installer and business listings on our directory.
• Improving our website content and user experience through analytics.
• Complying with applicable South African laws and regulations.

We will not process your personal information for any purpose incompatible with those stated above without your consent.

4. Lawful Grounds for Processing

We rely on the following lawful grounds under section 11 of POPIA:

• Consent — when you voluntarily submit a form, request a quote, or provide your details.
• Legitimate interest — for analytics and site improvement where your interests are not overridden.
• Contractual necessity — when processing is required to fulfil a service you have requested (e.g., connecting you to an installer).
• Legal obligation — where required by South African law.

5. Sharing Your Information with Third Parties

We may share your personal information with the following categories of third parties, only to the extent necessary:

• Solar installers and service providers — when you request a quote or lead referral, your contact details are shared with relevant, vetted installers in our directory.
• Analytics providers — Google Analytics processes anonymised usage data to help us understand site performance.
• Affiliate networks — clicks on affiliate product links may be tracked by third-party affiliate platforms (e.g., Amazon Associates). No personal contact details are shared.
• Hosting and infrastructure providers — our hosting provider (Vercel) processes data as part of website delivery.

We do not sell your personal information to any third party. Any operators we engage are required to process your information only on our instruction and in accordance with POPIA.

6. Cross-Border Transfers of Personal Information

Some of our third-party service providers (such as Google Analytics and Vercel) are based outside of South Africa. In accordance with section 72 of POPIA, we take reasonable steps to ensure that any cross-border transfer of personal information is subject to adequate protections, including that the recipient country has equivalent data protection standards or that appropriate contractual safeguards are in place.

7. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected, or as required by law. Specifically:

• Lead and enquiry data is retained for up to 12 months.
• Installer listing information is retained for the duration of the listing.
• Analytics data is retained as per Google Analytics default retention settings (up to 14 months).

Once information is no longer required, we destroy or de-identify it in a secure manner.

8. Security Safeguards

We implement reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These include:

• HTTPS encryption on all pages.
• Restricted access to personal data on a need-to-know basis.
• Use of reputable, security-audited infrastructure providers.

In the event of a security compromise affecting your personal information, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as required by section 22 of POPIA.

9. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience and to collect analytics data. These may include:

• Essential cookies — required for core site functionality.
• Analytics cookies — used by Google Analytics to measure site usage.
• Affiliate tracking cookies — used to attribute referrals to affiliate networks.

You may disable cookies through your browser settings. Note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of the website.

10. Your Rights as a Data Subject

Under POPIA, you have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Right to access — you may request a record of the personal information we hold about you (section 23 of POPIA).
• Right to correction — you may request that we correct or update inaccurate information (section 24 of POPIA).
• Right to deletion — you may request deletion of your personal information where it is no longer required or where processing was unlawful.
• Right to object — you may object to the processing of your personal information on grounds of legitimate interest (section 11(3) of POPIA).
• Right to withdraw consent — where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us. We will respond within a reasonable time, and no later than 30 days.

11. Voluntary Provision of Information

Providing your personal information on this website is voluntary. However, certain services—such as receiving a solar quote or claiming an installer listing—require you to provide personal information. If you choose not to provide the requested information, we may not be able to render those services to you.

12. Complaints and the Information Regulator

If you believe we have processed your personal information in violation of POPIA, you are entitled to lodge a complaint with us first by contacting us. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may escalate your complaint to the Information Regulator of South Africa:

13. Changes to This Disclaimer

We may update this POPI Disclaimer from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or in applicable law. The date at the top of this page indicates when this disclaimer was last revised. Continued use of our website after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated disclaimer.