Important: POPIA Guardian provides compliance automation tools and templates. We are not a law firm and do not provide legal advice. For specific legal questions about your compliance obligations, please consult a qualified South African attorney.
1. Acceptance of terms
By accessing or using POPIA Guardian (the "Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms") and our Privacy Policy. If you are accepting these Terms on behalf of a company or organisation, you represent that you have authority to do so, and "you" refers to that entity.
If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service. These Terms constitute a binding agreement between you and NGUNI FORCE (Pty) Ltd ("POPIA Guardian", "we", "us", "our").
2. The services
POPIA Guardian provides a cloud-based software platform for POPIA compliance management, including data mapping, privacy policy generation, consent management, and DSAR handling (collectively, the "Services").
We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue any aspect of the Services at any time with reasonable notice. We will provide at least 30 days' written notice of material changes that adversely affect your use of the Service.
3. Accounts & access
You must create an account to use the Services. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your credentials and for all activity under your account. Notify us immediately at [email protected] if you suspect unauthorised access.
You must be at least 18 years old and have legal capacity to enter into contracts under South African law to use our Services. Commercial accounts must be registered South African legal entities or sole proprietors.
4. Acceptable use
You agree not to: (a) use the Services to violate any applicable South African law or regulation; (b) process personal information on the platform without a lawful basis under POPIA; (c) reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code of our software; (d) resell or sublicense the Services without written permission; (e) use the Services to store or transmit malicious code; (f) attempt to gain unauthorised access to our systems or another user's account.
5. Billing & payment
Subscription fees are billed monthly or annually in South African Rands (ZAR) via PayFast. All prices are inclusive of VAT at the rate applicable in South Africa.
Subscriptions auto-renew unless cancelled before the renewal date. You may cancel at any time from your account settings. On cancellation, you retain access until the end of your paid period — we do not offer prorated refunds for partial periods, except where required by the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008.
We reserve the right to change pricing with 30 days' notice. Price changes will not affect your current paid period.
6. Your data
You retain full ownership of all data you upload to or create in the platform ("Customer Data"). You grant us a limited licence to process Customer Data solely to provide the Services to you.
We will not access your Customer Data except: (a) to provide the Services; (b) to investigate a suspected security incident; (c) as required by law. We act as an Operator under POPIA with respect to personal information in your Customer Data, and will comply with your reasonable instructions regarding that data.
On termination, we will provide a 30-day window to export your Customer Data before deletion.
7. Intellectual property
POPIA Guardian and its licensors own all intellectual property rights in the Services, including the software, legal templates, compliance frameworks, and documentation. Nothing in these Terms transfers any IP rights to you.
We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the Services during your subscription term. Policy documents and compliance reports you generate using our templates are yours to use — they are not subject to our IP claims once downloaded.
8. Disclaimers
THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR THAT THEY WILL MEET YOUR SPECIFIC COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS.
POPIA GUARDIAN PROVIDES TOOLS TO ASSIST WITH COMPLIANCE; WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT USE OF THE SERVICES WILL RESULT IN LEGAL COMPLIANCE WITH POPIA OR ANY OTHER APPLICABLE LAW. COMPLIANCE REQUIRES YOUR OWN ACTIONS AND DECISIONS.
9. Limitation of liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY SOUTH AFRICAN LAW, NGUNI FORCE (PTY) LTD SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, OR GOODWILL.
OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICES SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.
Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008.
10. Termination
Either party may terminate these Terms at any time. You may cancel your subscription from your account settings. We may suspend or terminate your account if you materially breach these Terms and fail to remedy the breach within 14 days of written notice.
On termination, your right to use the Services ends. We will retain your data for 30 days post-termination to allow export, after which it will be permanently deleted.
11. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. Any disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Johannesburg, South Africa. You agree to attempt mediation through the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA) before initiating litigation.
12. Contact
Questions about these Terms should be sent to [email protected]. NGUNI FORCE (Pty) Ltd, Sandton, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.