Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026/08/25

1. Who we are

Ekasi to the Burbs (Pty) Ltd is the responsible party under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).

2. What we collect

  • Account info: name, suburb, email or phone number, password hash.
  • Worker info (with consent): first name, photo, area, day rate, references, ID verification status.
  • KYC info (for wallet): ID number, selfie, proof of address — encrypted, shared only with our licensed wallet partner.
  • Vouch data (when you vouch for a worker): your name, account ID, relationship to the worker, years known, written statement, and contact phone number. Lawful basis: your consent on submission plus our legitimate interest in verifying worker authenticity.
  • Job & wallet activity: bookings, transactions, payouts.
  • Live location (workers, opt-in only): GPS coordinates while a job is active, used to show the customer the worker's approach. Lawful basis: contract performance + your explicit consent. You can revoke at any time from the job page.
  • One-off location check (customers confirming work, optional): when you answer a provider's confirmation link you may choose to share your device location once. We use it only to calculate how far you are from the address given for the job, and we store only the resulting distance band (confirmed, nearby, not confirmed) plus a coarse, non-reversible device fingerprint used for fraud detection. Your coordinates are not retained and the band is never displayed publicly with your identity. Lawful basis: your explicit consent. Declining has no effect on the provider.
  • Confirmation and review content: the customer name and contact detail the provider supplies so we can reach you, your yes / no / cannot-confirm answer, any comment, and your rating of a completed service.
  • Technical: IP, device, browser — used for security and abuse prevention only.

3. Why we use it

  • To connect customers with workers near them.
  • To process payments and prevent fraud.
  • To verify worker identity and reputation through community vouches, which are confirmed by automated checks, and through the admin review that publishes a profile.
  • To detect fake or coerced trust signals — for example reciprocal confirmations between providers, one contact used across several providers, bursts of confirmations, or confirmations from brand-new accounts. Lawful basis: our legitimate interest in preventing fraud. Flags are reviewed by a person; no decision about a provider is made by automated means alone.
  • To comply with the law (FICA, tax).
  • To improve the platform.

4. Who we share with

Our hosting and database provider, our licensed wallet/payments partner, our ID-verification partner Didit (for workers who opt in — they receive name, nationality and the captured ID document), and authorities where the law requires. Never sold to advertisers.

Vouch data: your first name, relationship, and written statement may be visible to the worker you vouched for and to admin reviewers. Your phone number is never shown publicly — it is used only for automated duplicate and fraud checks (for example the same number vouching for several workers), and may be seen by an admin if a vouch is flagged for review.

Confirmation data: the provider who requested the confirmation can see that you answered and any comment you leave. Your contact details, address and location band are visible to Ekasi admins only. Public profiles show counts, never your identity. Address text supplied for a confirmation is sent to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service purely to convert it into coordinates for the distance check.

5. Your rights (POPIA)

You may at any time access, correct, or delete your data, withdraw consent, or lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator. Use the Account page or email privacy@ekasitotheburbs.co.za.

6. Retention

Wallet/transaction records are kept for 5 years (FICA). Live location pings are deleted 30 days after the related job ends. Vouch, confirmation and review records are retained for the life of the worker profile and deleted on your request or within 30 days of the worker's account closure. Distance bands and fraud-review records are kept for up to 24 months for abuse prevention. Other data is deleted within 30 days of account closure.

7. Security

Encrypted in transit and at rest. KYC documents are stored in a private bucket accessible only to you and authorised reviewers.

8. Cross-border transfers

Some processors are hosted outside South Africa under POPIA-equivalent protection.

9. Contact

Information Officer: privacy@ekasitotheburbs.co.za.