Terms of Service

Last updated: 2026/08/25

1. The platform

Ekasi to the Burbs connects suburban customers with informal workers. We are an introduction and payment platform — workers are independent, not our employees.

2. Customer obligations

Treat workers with dignity. No racial, gendered, or other discriminatory requests.
Pay through the in-app wallet. Paying in cash defeats the protections we provide.
Confirm job completion in good faith so escrow can release.

3. Worker obligations

Provide honest profile information.
Show up at agreed times or notify the customer.
Complete KYC before withdrawing wallet funds.
Complete community vouching (2 confirmed vouches) and upload a profile photo before being listed. Complete ID and/or proof-of-address checks to earn trust badges.

4. Fees

A small platform fee may be deducted from each settled job. The amount is shown before you confirm payment.

5. Suspension

We may suspend accounts for fraud, abuse, or repeated violations.

6. Liability

Ekasi is an introduction and payment platform, not the contractor. Workers are independent contractors, not employees or agents of Ekasi. The price, scope, quality, timing, and outcome of any job is a contract strictly between the customer and the worker.

Ekasi is not liable for: poor workmanship, personal injury, theft, property damage, loss, delays, or any consequential loss arising from a job. The customer accepts that hiring through the platform is at their own risk, mitigated by vetting, escrow, and our dispute process. Both customer and worker indemnify Ekasi against claims arising from the job itself.

No criminal background checks. Ekasi does not conduct criminal record checks on workers. Vetting is limited to ID verification and reference checks. Customers accept that workers are independent contractors who have not been subjected to a criminal background check by Ekasi.

See our plain-English Liability page for the full breakdown.

6a. Materials and equipment

When posting a job the customer must indicate who supplies materials (consumables such as paint, cleaning products, plants) and who supplies equipment (tools, ladders, machinery). These choices are recorded on the job. If not specified, the default is: the worker brings their own tools and the customer pays for consumables. Disputes over materials/equipment are handled per the dispute policy.

6b. Live location sharing

Workers may opt in to share their live GPS location with the customer for an active job, similar to food-delivery apps. Sharing is consent-based and the worker can revoke at any time. Pings are stored only while the job is active and are deleted 30 days after job completion. See the Privacy Policy.

7. Worker verification (2-prong)

Ekasi publishes worker profiles only after a two-prong verification. Both prongs are surfaced as badges on the public profile so households can judge for themselves.

Prong A — Community Trust (required to be listed)

At least 2 confirmed community vouches from people who know the worker — prior employers, neighbours, community members, or other verified workers.
Each vouch is checked automatically when it is submitted — for reciprocal vouching, one contact number or device used across several workers, and bursts of vouches. Vouches that pass are confirmed immediately; vouches that trip a check are held for review by a person, who may phone the voucher.
The worker must also upload a clear profile photo.
Once the photo and 2 confirmed vouches are in place, an admin reviews and publishes the profile. The worker then carries the Community Trusted badge.

Prong B — Documentary verification (optional, builds trust)

ID verification is handled by our partner Didit. SA IDs are cross-checked against the Department of Home Affairs; we also accept Passport, Asylum Seeker Permit, Refugee ID and Work Visa. A successful check earns the ID Verified badge.
Proof of address (utility bill, landlord letter, or ward councillor letter) is reviewed by an admin and earns the Address Confirmed badge — useful for workers without an SA ID.

Honesty and abuse

Both workers and vouchers must give truthful information. False or coerced vouches lead to removal of both the worker and the voucher accounts, and may be reported to authorities where fraud is suspected.

Limits of verification

Community vouches are community signals, not background checks. As noted in section 6, Ekasi does not conduct criminal record checks. Customers accept that workers are independent contractors, and that residual risk is mitigated by vetting, escrow, and our dispute process. See also our public Trust page and Liability page.

7a. Voucher terms (people who vouch)

These terms apply to any person — customer, neighbour, prior employer, or fellow worker — who submits a vouch for a worker on Ekasi.

What a vouch is. A vouch is your personal, honest statement of what you know about the worker. It is not a background check, a criminal record check, a guarantee of work quality, or a certificate of employability.
Truthfulness. You may only vouch for someone you genuinely know. Vouches that are false, coerced, paid for, or exchanged reciprocally for money or favours are prohibited. You may submit one vouch per worker.
Verification contact. Your vouch is confirmed automatically once our fraud checks pass. If a check flags it, an admin may phone the number you provide before confirming. If we cannot reach you, the vouch may stay pending or be removed.
Privacy. Your first name may be shown to the worker and on their public profile. Your phone number is never shown publicly. You may ask us to withdraw your vouch at any time by contacting support.
No liability. You are not responsible for the worker's conduct, safety, or the quality of any job, and you are not a party to any contract between the worker and a customer.
Consequences of abuse. False or coerced vouches lead to removal of both your account and the vouched worker's profile, and may be reported to the authorities where fraud is suspected.
Your data. Vouch details are stored and reviewed by Ekasi admins as described in our Privacy Policy.

By submitting a vouch you confirm that it is honest and that you accept these voucher terms.

7b. Customer confirmations of work

In addition to community vouches, a provider may ask a past customer to confirm a specific job. The following applies:

Only the customer may answer. Ekasi sends the customer a private confirmation link. A provider may never answer a confirmation about their own work, and attempting to do so is grounds for removal.
What you are confirming. You are confirming, honestly and from your own experience, whether the described work took place. You may answer yes, no, or I cannot confirm. A "cannot confirm" answer is not held against the provider.
Optional location check. You may choose to share your device location once, so we can check whether you are near the address where the work was said to have happened. This is entirely optional, we store only a distance band (confirmed, nearby or not confirmed) rather than your coordinates, and declining never counts against the provider. The band is used internally and is never shown publicly with your identity attached.
Accuracy and abuse. Confirmations that are false, coerced, paid for, or exchanged reciprocally may be discounted, removed, or treated as fraud. Ekasi may automatically flag suspicious patterns — such as providers confirming for one another, one contact number used across several providers, bursts of confirmations, or confirmations from brand-new accounts — for review by a person. Flags are a prompt for human review; no account is suspended automatically by a flag alone.
What is published. Profiles show plain counts (for example, how many customer confirmations and how many were location-confirmed). We do not publish your name, phone number, email address, street address, or exact location.
Ekasi's discretion. Ekasi may discount or remove any confirmation, adjust a provider's internal trust standing, or withdraw a badge where we reasonably believe a signal is not genuine.

7c. Reviews and ratings

Only rate a service you personally received. One review per completed service.
Reviews must reflect your own honest experience. No abusive, discriminatory, defamatory or off-topic content, and no personal information about other people.
Reviews linked to a service completed through Ekasi are marked as verified. Others are shown without that marker.
Ekasi may remove a review that breaches these rules, and may remove or discount reviews we reasonably believe to be fake, incentivised or retaliatory.

7b. Provider verification and “Verified on Ekasi”

Providers may apply for formal Ekasi verification. Verification assesses whether a provider meets the identity, legal and business requirements that apply to the services they offer. The same standards apply to every applicant; requirements differ only by the type of work, the way the provider trades, and the documents a provider is legally entitled to hold — never by nationality or country of origin.

Accurate information. You must supply true, current details and valid documentation, and tell us promptly if anything changes or lapses.
Assessment. Ekasi reviews the submitted documents and may request additional information. Outcomes are: verified, information required, failed, suspended, or expired.
What the badge means. “Verified on Ekasi” means we checked the applicable requirements at the time of review. It is not a guarantee of workmanship, safety, availability, or outcome, and it does not make Ekasi a party to your contract with a customer.
Validity and renewal. Verification may carry an expiry date. When it lapses the badge is removed automatically until the provider renews.
Withdrawal. We may suspend or withdraw verification where documents are false, expired, or withdrawn by the issuing authority, or where a provider breaches these terms.
Confidentiality. Identity numbers, permits and uploaded documents are stored privately, are visible only to authorised Ekasi reviewers, and are never shown on public profiles. See our Privacy Policy.

8. Disputes

See our disputes policy. Governing law: Republic of South Africa.