Privacy Policy

1. Responsible Party

Free Me South Africa (Pty) Ltd (Reg. 2025/384802/07) is the Responsible Party as defined in the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA).

Information Officer: Pierre van Staden, Chief Executive Officer

Email: exclusions@freemesouthafrica.co.za

2. Personal Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of personal information for the purpose of processing your statutory self-exclusion application under the National Gambling Act 7 of 2004:

• Full name and South African ID number
• Date of birth, gender, and race (for anonymised gambling harm research purposes only, with your separate consent)
• Contact details: mobile number and email address
• Province, city, and employment status
• Facial biometric image (for identity verification against the Department of Home Affairs population register)
• Electronic signature and timestamp
• IP address and device information (for security and fraud prevention)

3. Purpose of Processing

We process your personal information for the following purposes:

• To verify your identity and complete NGB Form 1/1
• To submit your completed NGB Form 1/1 to the National Gambling Board as required under the National Gambling Act 7 of 2004
• To generate and retain the Proxy Consent and Authorisation Certificate, NGB submission confirmation, and FMSA SE Submission Certificate
• To send you confirmation of submission by email
• To maintain records as required under POPIA Section 17 (5-year retention)
• To contribute anonymised data to gambling harm research in the public interest (with separate consent only)

4. Legal Basis for Processing

Processing is necessary to fulfil our legal obligation under the National Gambling Act 7 of 2004 (POPIA Section 11(1)(c)), and where applicable, with your specific consent (POPIA Section 11(1)(a)).

5. Special Personal Information

Under POPIA Section 26, race information is processed only with your explicit consent and only for anonymised gambling harm research. Facial biometric data is processed solely for identity verification and is not retained beyond the verification step.

6. Sharing of Personal Information

Your personal information is shared with:

• The National Gambling Board (as required by law)
• All 9 Provincial Gambling Boards (via the NGB)
• Smile Identity (biometric verification service, South Africa)
• Supabase Inc. (encrypted database hosting, with data processing agreement)

We do not sell, share, or disclose your personal information to gambling operators, marketers, or third parties for commercial purposes.

7. Retention

We retain your personal information for 5 years from the date of your application, as required under POPIA Section 17 and our obligations under the NGA. After this period, your data is securely deleted.

8. Your Rights

Under POPIA, you have the right to:

• Request access to your personal information (POPIA Section 23)
• Request correction of inaccurate information (POPIA Section 24)
• Object to processing of your information (POPIA Section 11(3))
• Request deletion of your information, subject to legal retention obligations (POPIA Section 24)
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator at complaints.IR@justice.gov.za

9. Security

We implement technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, disclosure, and loss, including end-to-end encryption, access controls, and regular security audits, as required under POPIA Section 19.

10. Contact

For any privacy queries, access requests, or complaints: exclusions@freemesouthafrica.co.za