Privacy and POPIA notice

01 / The responsible party

Who we are

Responsible party: Wildcam (Pty) Ltd (Registration No. 2006/021073/07), trading as Gatvol
Postal address: 59 Harley Street, Ferndale, Johannesburg, 2194, South Africa

Information Officer: Russell Belter
Email: russell@gatvol.co.za

Our Information Officer is registered with the Information Regulator of South Africa (Registration No. 2026-065638, registered 2026-09-01). You can verify this registration on the Regulator's eServices portal at eservices.inforegulator.org.za.

02 / Information we collect

What we collect

We only collect what we need to investigate and resolve the matters brought to us:

• Complaint submissions. When you use our report form we collect your name, email address, telephone number, preferred contact method, details of the business you are complaining about (name, branch, contact person, province), a description of what happened, any amounts involved, the steps you have already taken, the outcome you want, and your instructions on how we may contact you.
• Evidence. Documents, photographs, invoices, correspondence, screenshots and other files you upload in support of your complaint.
• Correspondence. Emails, letters and messages you send us, including anything you raise in a follow-up about your reference number.
• Named parties. Where a complaint concerns a business or person, their identifying and contact details as provided by the complainant, so that we can give them a right of reply.
• Technical records. Basic server and security logs generated when you visit the site (such as IP address, browser type and pages requested), used to keep the site secure and to diagnose faults.
• Admin accounts. If you are authorised staff, your email address and password hash for the sign-in account, and audit records of actions taken on complaints.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children, and we do not use this site's forms for direct marketing.

03 / Why we process it

Purpose and basis for processing

We process personal information for the following purposes:

• To assess, investigate and follow up on complaints submitted to us;
• To correspond with complainants, including sending a confirmation email with your reference number;
• To give any party named in a complaint a fair opportunity to respond (right of reply), before and after publication;
• To verify evidence and establish whether a matter is publishable in the public interest;
• To publish accounts, with the complainant's consent, as part of our consumer-watchdog reporting;
• To respond to access, correction, deletion and objection requests;
• To comply with legal obligations and to protect the rights and safety of complainants, our staff and the public.

The lawful bases we rely on are your consent (given when you submit a complaint or subscribe), the legitimate interests of our journalism (POPIA recognises the processing of information for artistic or literary expression, and for news and investigative reporting, subject to reasonable safeguards), the prevention and detection of fraud and unlawful conduct, and compliance with our legal duties. You may withdraw consent at any time by contacting the Information Officer — this does not affect processing already carried out.

04 / Sharing your information

When we share information

We do not sell personal information. We share it only as follows:

• With the party named in your complaint — the details of the complaint and the allegations, as part of the right-of-reply process. We tell you before we do this. Where safety or intimidation is a concern, we will discuss with you first what will be disclosed.
• In publication — only with your consent, and only the details you have approved. We can withhold your name, use a first name, or anonymise your account entirely.
• With service providers who host our site, database, file storage and email delivery. They process data only on our instructions and under contract.
• With authorities where the law requires it, or where we believe it is necessary to prevent serious harm or fraud.

05 / Storage and retention

How long we keep it

Complaint records and evidence are stored in an access-controlled database and private file store. We keep complaint records and evidence for as long as needed to investigate the matter, give the named party a right of reply, and support any publication or follow-up — and for a reasonable archival period afterwards so that we can evidence our editorial process if a claim or dispute arises later. Unpublished complaints that go no further are reviewed for deletion after 24 months unless you ask us to keep or delete them sooner.

Security and server logs are kept for a short operational period and are not used to profile visitors. Administrative audit records are kept while the related complaint file is active.

06 / Security

How we protect it

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures, including encryption in transit, access controls so that only authorised staff can view complaint files, role-based permissions in our admin console, and private (non-public) file storage for evidence. Access is limited to staff who need it to do their work. If a breach of your personal information occurs, we will notify the Information Regulator and affected individuals as required by POPIA.

07 / Submitting a complaint

How to reach us

The fastest way to bring a consumer problem to Gatvol is the report form on this site. When you submit it you receive a reference number in the form GV-YYYY-NNNNN — keep it, as it is how we find your file if you contact us again. A copy of your submission is emailed to you as confirmation.

If you prefer not to use the form, you can send the same information by email to russell@gatvol.co.za or by post to 59 Harley Street, Ferndale, Johannesburg, 2194, South Africa, marked for the attention of the Information Officer.

Before submitting, please read our moderation policy: we review every complaint, and nothing is published without the complainant's consent and a right of reply to the party named.

08 / Your rights

Access, correction, deletion and objection

Under POPIA you have the right to:

• Request confirmation that we hold personal information about you, and a description of it (Section 23);
• Request access to the record of your personal information (Section 24–25);
• Request correction or deletion of personal information we hold about you (Section 24);
• Object to our processing of your personal information (Section 11); and
• Withdraw consent you have previously given, at any time.

How to make a request. Email the Information Officer at russell@gatvol.co.za with the subject line "Data request" and include: your full name, the reference number of your complaint (if you have one), the email address or phone number you used when you submitted, and what you are asking for (access, correction, deletion, or objection). We verify your identity before releasing anything.

We will respond within 30 days of receiving a complete request. Access is free for the first request in any 12-month period; a reasonable fee for reproduction and postage may apply to repeated or voluminous requests, which we will quote before proceeding.

Some information may lawfully be withheld or redacted — for example, material that would reveal a source, prejudice an open investigation, or identify a third party who has not consented. If we decline any part of a request, we will tell you which section of POPIA we rely on.

09 / Complaining to the Regulator

If you are not satisfied

If you believe we have not handled your personal information properly, please raise it with the Information Officer first so we can put it right. If you are not satisfied with our response, or you prefer to go straight to the regulator, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa:

Information Regulator of South Africa
Complaints: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za
General: inforeg@justice.gov.za
Website: inforegulator.org.za

10 / Cookies and analytics

Tracking on this site

We keep this site lean. We use only the cookies strictly necessary to operate the site and keep authorised staff signed in — we do not run advertising trackers, cross-site profiling or behavioural analytics. Video pages are served by Vimeo, which may set its own cookies when a video plays; see Vimeo's privacy policy for those practices.

11 / Changes to this notice

Updates

We may update this notice as our practices or the law change. Material changes will be reflected on this page with a revised "last updated" date. The notice in force when you submitted a complaint continues to govern that complaint, except where a change is required by law.