Privacy notice

This notice explains what personal information Hlanganisa Collective collects through this website, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the rights you hold under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013.

Who is responsible for your information

Hlanganisa Collective is the responsible party for the personal information described in this notice. We are based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Our Information Officer is Clement Nkoko. Any question about this notice, or any request relating to your personal information, can be sent to info@hlanganisacollective.co.za.

What we collect

This website has no account or login. We collect very little, and it falls into four groups.

Information you send us directly

If you email us using one of the addresses published on this site, or send us a message through the Start a conversation form on our home page, we receive whatever you choose to put in it. That will normally include your name, your email address, the organisation you represent and the substance of your enquiry. We use it only to answer you and to carry the conversation forward.

Information you submit through the brand form

If you represent a brand or agency and complete the form on our Connect page, we receive what you enter: your name, work email address, the brand or company you represent, your role if you give it, what you would like from us, the niches and stage you choose, and any message you add. We use it to reply to you, to send the introduction you asked for, and to carry the conversation forward, and we use your email address to confirm that we received your request.

Information you submit through the creator form

If you are a creator and complete the form on our join page, we receive what you enter: your name, email address, an optional phone or WhatsApp number, where you are based, your niche, your social media and portfolio links, a follower range, the kind of work you are looking for, an optional starting rate, how you heard about us, and any notes you add. We store it on our creator list so that we can consider you for brand opportunities, and we use your email address to confirm that we received your details and to reply to you. You must be 18 or older to use the form.

Information in your member area

If you are on our creator list you can sign in to a member area. You sign in with a one-time link that we email to the address on your profile, so there is no password. When you sign in we set one cookie on your device, called hl_session, that keeps you signed in for up to 30 days or until you sign out. It is strictly necessary for the member area to work, it is set only after you sign in, and it is not used for analytics or advertising.

In the member area we store the changes you make to your profile, including an optional short bio and your availability, an optional profile photo if you add one, which lessons you mark as done, how long you spend on each lesson (counted only while a lesson page is open and you are active on it, and used to show you your own progress), and any briefs you tell us you are interested in. If we place you in a gig, we also record the brand, the amount, and the creator fee of 5% that applies to that gig. You can download a copy of your information or delete your profile yourself from the settings page. Records of gigs that we placed are kept for our accounts even if you delete your profile.

Information collected automatically when you accept analytics

If, and only if, you accept analytics cookies, Google Analytics collects information about how this site is used. That includes the pages you view, the approximate region you are visiting from, the type of device and browser you use, how you arrived at the site, and which links and sections you interact with.

We have configured this measurement so that it does not collect your name, your email address or any other information that directly identifies you, and we do not attempt to link it to any individual.

Anonymous visit counts, with no cookies

Whatever you choose about analytics cookies, we count visits to this site with Cloudflare Web Analytics. It sets no cookie, does not store anything on your device and does not follow you from one site to another. It records only that a page was viewed, together with the page address, the website that sent you, your country, and your browser and device type. We use it to know roughly how many people visit and which pages they read, and we cannot tell who any visitor is.

Your choice about cookies

No analytics cookie is set on your device until you accept. Until you make a choice, all analytics and advertising storage is switched off by default using Google Consent Mode. The anonymous visit count described above does not use cookies and is not affected by this choice. Declining costs you nothing: the site works exactly the same either way.

Why we are allowed to process it

Under POPIA we rely on two grounds. For analytics cookies, we rely on your consent, which you give through the banner and can withdraw at any time. For the anonymous visit count, we rely on our legitimate interest in understanding how many people use the site, which involves no cookie and no information that identifies you. For keeping you on our creator list, we rely on the consent you give by ticking the box on the join page, which you can withdraw at any time. For the brand form on the Connect page, we rely on the consent you give by ticking the box on that form, which you can withdraw at any time. For answering an email or a message you have sent us through the Start a conversation form, we rely on our legitimate interest in responding to an enquiry you started.

Who else handles your information

We use a small number of established service providers to host this site, store the creator list, send and receive our email, and measure how the site is used. Each one handles information on our behalf and under its own terms. If you would like to know which providers handle your information, and where, email info@hlanganisacollective.co.za and we will tell you.

Some of our providers operate servers outside South Africa. Where information is transferred across a border, it is transferred to recipients that are subject to laws or binding agreements which uphold principles for lawful processing that are substantially similar to those in POPIA, as section 72 requires.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with any party for that party's own marketing. Details on our creator list are seen by the two founders. We will tell you before your details are shared with a brand.

How long we keep it

Details on our creator list are kept for as long as you remain on the list, which is until you ask us to remove them. Brand and agency requests are kept for as long as the conversation is active, and for a reasonable period afterwards, until you ask us to remove them. Email correspondence is kept for as long as the relationship is active, and for a reasonable period afterwards so that we have a record of what was agreed. Analytics data is retained by Google Analytics for fourteen months from your last visit, after which it is deleted automatically. The anonymous visit count is held by Cloudflare under its own retention terms.

How we protect it

This site is served only over an encrypted connection. Access to our email and analytics accounts is limited to the two founders and protected by strong authentication. The partner presentation on this site sits behind an access phrase, and that phrase is never transmitted to us or to any analytics service.

Your rights

POPIA gives you the following rights over your personal information. You may exercise any of them by emailing info@hlanganisacollective.co.za, and we will respond within a reasonable period.

• To be told what personal information we hold about you, and who has had access to it.
• To ask us to correct or delete information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, misleading or obtained unlawfully.
• To object, on reasonable grounds, to our processing of your information.
• To withdraw your consent to analytics, to being on our creator list, or to us replying to a brand request, at any time, without affecting anything done before you withdrew it.
• To complain to the Information Regulator if you believe we have not handled your information lawfully.

Complaints to the Regulator

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled a request or a complaint, you may approach the Information Regulator of South Africa. Their current contact details and complaint forms are published at inforegulator.org.za.

Changes to this notice

If we change how we handle personal information, we will update this page and change the date shown at the top. Where a change is significant, we will ask for your cookie choice again rather than assume the previous answer still stands.