Privacy Policy
How we protect your information.

Introduction

Ops-Ease (Pty) Ltd ("Ops-Ease", "we", "us", or "our") is a registered South African company specialising in municipal account administration specialist operating in the City of Johannesburg and City of Tshwane.

We are committed to processing your personal information responsibly, lawfully, and transparently. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, how we protect it, and what your rights are — in full compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA") and the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 ("PAIA").

Scope

This policy applies to all individuals and entities who interact with Ops-Ease, including:

• Homeowners and property buyers using our municipal account services
• Attorneys, conveyancers, and property professionals who refer clients or engage us directly
• Banks, bond originators, and institutional partners
• Service providers, contractors, and suppliers engaged by Ops-Ease
• Job applicants and prospective employees
• Visitors to our website at www.ops-ease.co.za

This policy covers personal information collected via our website, WhatsApp, email, phone, physical documentation, and any other channel through which you engage with us.

Definitions

Term	Meaning
Personal Information	Any information relating to an identifiable, living natural person or an existing juristic person, as defined in POPIA.
Special Personal Information	Sensitive categories including race or ethnicity, health status, biometric data, religious beliefs, political views, criminal history, or trade union membership.
Processing	Any operation performed on personal information, including collection, recording, storage, use, sharing, modification, or deletion.
Data Subject	The person to whom the personal information relates.
Information Officer	The Chief Operations Officer of Ops-Ease (Pty) Ltd, responsible for ensuring compliance with POPIA and PAIA.
Operator	A third party who processes personal information on behalf of Ops-Ease under a written agreement.
POPIA	Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013.
PAIA	Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000.

What Personal Information We Collect

The information we collect depends on the service you request. We collect only what is necessary for that purpose.

Identity and Contact Information

• Full name, identity number or passport number
• Residential and postal address
• Email address and telephone number
• WhatsApp number used for service communication

Property and Municipal Information

• Property address and erf number
• Municipal account number and meter details
• Title deed reference or Offer to Purchase details
• Rates clearance figures and municipal correspondence

Financial Information

• Banking details for deposit refund processing
• Payment records for services rendered

Professional and Entity Information (where applicable)

• Company registration number and CIPC documentation
• Conveyancer or attorney firm details and reference numbers
• Power of Attorney documentation and mandate details

Technical and Website Data

• IP address, browser type, and device information
• Pages visited, time on site, and clickstream data
• Cookie and analytics data (see Section 14)

How We Collect Your Information

• Directly from you — via our website contact form, WhatsApp, email, telephone, or in-person document submission
• From referring parties — attorneys, conveyancers, or banks who engage us on your behalf with your consent
• From municipal sources — the City of Johannesburg or City of Tshwane in the course of processing your service application
• Automatically — through our website via cookies and analytics tools when you browse www.ops-ease.co.za
• From public records — Deeds Office registrations, company registration records, or other publicly available property information

Purpose of Processing

We collect and process your personal information solely to:

• Deliver the specific municipal administration service you have requested or purchased
• Open, close, link, or manage your municipal utility account on your behalf
• Apply for and obtain a Rates Clearance Certificate on your behalf
• Process and track your municipal deposit refund
• Submit and follow up on billing disputes, pre-paid conversions, or house plan applications
• Communicate progress updates and case status throughout your service
• Process payments via PayFast and maintain billing records
• Comply with our legal obligations under POPIA, PAIA, and applicable municipal legislation
• Maintain internal records for audit, quality assurance, and dispute resolution purposes
• Respond to enquiries submitted through our website or WhatsApp
• Send service-related communications (not marketing, unless you have opted in)

Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal information on one or more of the following lawful grounds under POPIA:

• Performance of a contract — processing is necessary to deliver the service you have requested and paid for
• Your consent — where you have provided explicit consent, including via our website forms, WhatsApp intake, or payment process
• Legal obligation — where processing is required to comply with applicable law, including municipal legislation or court orders
• Legitimate interest — where processing is necessary for our legitimate business operations, provided this does not override your rights and freedoms
• Protection of your interests — in circumstances where processing is necessary to protect your vital interests or those of a third party

Sharing of Personal Information

We share your personal information only where strictly necessary to deliver your service or comply with a legal obligation. Recipients may include:

• City of Johannesburg and City of Tshwane — to submit account applications, clearance requests, disputes, or other municipal processes on your behalf
• Referring attorneys or conveyancers — where they are coordinating your property transfer and need case status updates
• PayFast — to process your payment securely; PayFast is PCI-DSS compliant
• Cloud service providers — for secure document storage and case management, under written data processing agreements
• Legal and regulatory authorities — where we are compelled to disclose information by law, court order, or regulatory requirement

We do not sell, trade, rent, or exchange your personal information with any third party for commercial or marketing purposes under any circumstances.

Cross-Border Transfers

In limited circumstances, your personal information may be processed or stored outside the Republic of South Africa. This may occur where we use cloud-based document storage or communication platforms whose servers are located in other jurisdictions.

Where such transfers occur, we ensure that:

• The recipient country offers an adequate level of data protection comparable to POPIA; or
• Appropriate contractual safeguards and data processing agreements are in place in accordance with section 72 of POPIA

We will not transfer your personal information internationally without ensuring the above conditions are met.

Security Safeguards

Ops-Ease implements reasonable and appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, or disclosure. These measures include:

• Encrypted document transmission and secure file storage
• Password-protected systems with role-based access limited to authorised personnel only
• Multi-factor authentication on remote and cloud-based systems
• Confidentiality commitments from all staff, contractors, and service providers with access to personal data
• Secure destruction of physical and digital records upon expiry of the retention period
• Regular review of our security practices to ensure continued adequacy

While we take all reasonable steps to protect your information, no electronic transmission or storage system is completely secure. In the event of a security compromise, we will notify affected parties and the Information Regulator as required by POPIA.

Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, or as required by law. Our standard retention periods are:

Record Type	Retention Period	Basis
Client service files and correspondence	5 years from case closure	Audit compliance and potential dispute resolution
Payment and invoice records	5 years	Tax and financial compliance
Website enquiry and contact form data	2 years	Service history and follow-up
Power of Attorney documents	Duration of mandate plus 3 years	Legal accountability
Employee and HR records	As required by employment legislation	Legal obligation

Upon expiry of the applicable retention period, records are securely destroyed or anonymised in accordance with our data destruction policy.

Your Rights as a Data Subject

Under POPIA, you have the following rights in relation to your personal information:

• Right of access — to request confirmation of whether we hold your personal information and to receive a copy
• Right to correction — to request that we correct, update, or complete inaccurate or incomplete information we hold about you
• Right to deletion — to request that we delete your personal information where processing is no longer lawfully justified
• Right to object — to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, or to processing for direct marketing purposes
• Right to withdraw consent — where processing is based on your consent, to withdraw that consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing
• Right to lodge a complaint — to submit a complaint to the Information Regulator if you believe we have processed your information unlawfully

To exercise any of the above rights, contact our Information Officer at info@ops-ease.co.za. We will respond within 30 days. A prescribed fee may apply for certain access requests in accordance with the Regulator's guidelines.

Marketing Communications

We will only send you marketing or promotional communications where you have opted in to receive them. This includes service updates, industry news, or information about new Ops-Ease offerings.

You may withdraw your consent and opt out of marketing communications at any time by replying "STOP" to any WhatsApp message, clicking the unsubscribe link in any email, or contacting us directly at info@ops-ease.co.za.

Withdrawal of marketing consent does not affect service-related communications required to deliver your active case.

Cookies and Website Analytics

Our website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience and to understand how visitors use our site. Cookies are small text files stored on your device by your browser.

We use cookies for the following purposes:

• Functional cookies — to ensure the website operates correctly and remembers your preferences
• Analytics cookies — to gather anonymised data on page visits, traffic sources, and user behaviour to improve our content

You may disable cookies through your browser settings at any time. Disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of some features on our website. We rely on your consent for non-essential cookies, which you may withdraw at any time.

Children's Information

Ops-Ease does not intentionally collect or process personal information of persons under the age of 18. Our services are intended for business owners, directors, and authorised representatives of businesses.

If you believe that a minor's personal information has been submitted to us inadvertently, please contact us immediately at info@ops-ease.co.za and we will take prompt steps to delete it.

Privacy Incident Response

Ops-Ease maintains an internal POPIA Incident Response procedure that governs how we identify, contain, and respond to actual or suspected personal information breaches. Our process includes:

• Immediate escalation to the Information Officer upon discovery of a suspected breach
• Containment measures to limit further exposure
• Assessment of the nature, scope, and impact of the breach
• Notification to the Information Regulator and affected data subjects within the timeframes prescribed by POPIA
• Documentation in our Security Compromise Register, including breach date, affected records, actions taken, and lessons applied

All third-party service providers and operators who process personal information on our behalf are contractually required to notify us without delay of any breach or suspected breach.

Copyright and Intellectual Property

All content on the Ops-Ease website — including text, service descriptions, pricing, layouts, branding, policies, and downloadable documents — is the original intellectual property of Ops-Ease (Pty) Ltd.

No part of this website or its content may be copied, reproduced, adapted, distributed, published, or used in any form — whether by a person or an automated system — without the prior written consent of Ops-Ease. This prohibition expressly includes any use for the purpose of training, developing, or improving any artificial intelligence, machine learning, or large language model system.

Limited use is permitted solely where the author, entity name, website link, and publication date are fully and accurately acknowledged in a recognised academic referencing format, and only for genuine educational or research purposes.

Unauthorised reproduction or use of our content may constitute an infringement of intellectual property rights under the Copyright Act 98 of 1978 and may result in legal proceedings.

Policy Updates

We review this Privacy Policy periodically and may update it to reflect changes in our practices, legal obligations, or the services we provide. Any material changes will be published on our website at www.ops-ease.co.za with an updated effective date.

We recommend reviewing this policy periodically. Continued use of our services following a published update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

Contact Our Information Officer

For any privacy-related queries, to exercise your data subject rights, or to lodge a concern about how we handle your personal information, please contact:

If your concern is not resolved to your satisfaction, you have the right to lodge a complaint directly with the Information Regulator of South Africa at www.inforegulator.org.za.