Privacy Policy

Teacher-Swap (Pty) Ltd ("we", "us", or "our") operates the Teacher-Swap platform at teacher-swap.co.za. We are committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) of South Africa.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, and what rights you have regarding your data.

We collect the following categories of personal information:

• Identity data: first name, last name, gender, age group.
• Contact data: email address, cellphone number.
• Professional data: SACE registration number, current school, district, province, teaching phase(s), and subjects.
• Preference data: preferred provinces, cities, and districts for swapping to.
• Payment data: transaction identifiers and payment status supplied by PayFast. We do not store card numbers or banking details.
• Usage data: log data, browser type, pages visited, and timestamps — collected automatically when you use our platform.

We use your personal information only for the following purposes:

• To create and manage your teacher profile on the platform.
• To match you with compatible educators seeking mutual school placement swaps.
• To process payments via our third-party payment provider, PayFast.
• To send you email notifications about potential matches, platform updates, and account activity.
• To comply with legal obligations and resolve disputes.
• To improve the performance and features of the platform.

We will not use your information for any purpose that is incompatible with those listed above without your prior consent.

We process your personal information on the following grounds:

• Contract: processing is necessary to deliver the services you signed up for.
• Consent: where you have given us explicit permission (e.g. marketing communications).
• Legitimate interest: to operate, maintain, and improve our platform.
• Legal obligation: to comply with applicable South African law.

We do not sell or rent your personal information to any third party. We may share your information only in the following limited circumstances:

• PayFast: we pass your name and email to PayFast solely to process payments. PayFast's own privacy policy applies to data they receive.
• Other platform users: when a mutual match is confirmed and both parties have unlocked each other, limited contact details (name, email, cellphone) are shared between the matched pair only.
• Legal authorities: if required to do so by law or in response to a valid legal process.

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide our services. If you request deletion of your account, we will remove your identifiable data within 30 days, except where retention is required by law or for legitimate business purposes (e.g. financial records must be kept for 5 years under South African tax law).

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, loss, or misuse. All data is transmitted over HTTPS. Payment processing is handled entirely by PayFast on their PCI-DSS-compliant infrastructure — we never see or store your card details.

Despite these measures, no internet transmission is completely secure. You use the platform at your own risk and are responsible for keeping your account credentials confidential.

As a data subject under POPIA, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you.
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Request deletion of your personal information (subject to legal retention obligations).
• Object to the processing of your personal information.
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you believe your rights have been violated.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@teacher-swap.co.za or via WhatsApp at +27 61 472 5760. We will respond within 30 days.

Our platform uses essential cookies and local storage to maintain your login session and remember your preferences. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. By using the platform you consent to this limited use of cookies.

Our platform may contain links to third-party websites (e.g. PayFast, WhatsApp). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites and encourage you to read their privacy policies before providing any personal information to them.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The date at the top of this page will always show the most recent revision. Continued use of the platform after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

For any privacy-related queries or to exercise your POPIA rights, contact us:

• Email: info@teacher-swap.co.za
• WhatsApp: +27 61 472 5760

If you are unsatisfied with our response, you may contact the Information Regulator of South Africa.