Privacy & POPIA Policy
Hoodie Group (Pty) Ltd
Last updated: September 2026
1. INTRODUCTION
Hoodie Group (Pty) Ltd respects the privacy of Residents, Businesses and other users of the Hoodie Platform.
This Privacy & POPIA Policy explains how Hoodie Group collects, uses, stores, shares and protects personal information when you use the Hoodie mobile application, website and related services.
Hoodie processes personal information in accordance with applicable South African law, including the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA").
POPIA establishes minimum requirements for lawful processing by public and private bodies and regulates, among other matters, data-subject rights, electronic direct marketing and cross-border transfers of personal information.
2. RESPONSIBLE PARTY
For personal information processed for Hoodie's own purposes, the responsible party is:
Hoodie Group (Pty) Ltd
10 Bates Drive
Loevenstein
Bellville, Cape Town
7530
South Africa
Registration Number: 2026/582038/07
Information Officer: Mrs MM Swart
Privacy/Information Officer Email: hello@hoodiegroup.co.za
Telephone: 072 527 3146
3. INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT
Depending on how you use Hoodie, we may collect information including:
Account information: your name, surname, email address, mobile number, username and account credentials.
Location and community information: the suburb, neighbourhood, community or geographical area selected by you or associated with your account.
Business information: for Business users, this may include business names, registration information, contact persons, business addresses, categories, service areas, logos, descriptions and other profile information.
Communications: messages, enquiries, complaints, support requests and other communications sent to Hoodie or, where the Platform functionality requires it, communications made through Hoodie.
Platform activity: information concerning how the Platform is used, such as profiles or offers viewed, features used, searches, interactions and account activity.
Technical information: device type, operating system, application version, IP address, browser information, diagnostic information, security logs and similar technical information.
Marketing preferences: your choices regarding notifications, promotional communications and marketing.
Payment and subscription information: where Businesses purchase subscriptions, Hoodie may process information relating to subscriptions, billing status, payment confirmations and transaction references.
Payment card or banking information may be collected or processed directly by an authorised payment service provider rather than stored by Hoodie.
4. HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION
Personal information may be collected:
- directly from you;
- when you register;
- when you select an area;
- when you update your profile;
- when you contact a Business through Hoodie;
- when you contact Hoodie;
- when a Business registers;
- when a Business purchases or changes a subscription;
- through cookies or similar technologies;
- through application and device functionality; and
- from service providers involved in operating the Platform.
5. WHY WE PROCESS PERSONAL INFORMATION
Hoodie may process personal information for purposes including:
- creating and maintaining accounts;
- identifying and authenticating users;
- associating users with appropriate geographical areas;
- displaying relevant local Businesses;
- enabling Residents and Businesses to connect;
- delivering specials, vouchers, coupons and other Platform functionality;
- processing and administering Business subscriptions;
- providing customer support;
- responding to complaints;
- preventing fraud and Platform abuse;
- securing Hoodie systems and accounts;
- improving the Platform;
- maintaining records;
- sending service-related notifications;
- sending marketing where lawfully permitted;
- complying with legal and regulatory obligations; and
- establishing, exercising or defending legal rights.
6. LAWFUL PROCESSING
Hoodie will process personal information only where there is an appropriate lawful basis for doing so.
Depending on the circumstances, processing may be necessary to provide requested Platform services, fulfil contractual obligations, comply with legal obligations, pursue legitimate operational interests permitted by law, or take place with the user's consent where consent is required.
7. INFORMATION SHARED WITH BUSINESSES
A central purpose of Hoodie is connecting Residents with Businesses.
When a Resident chooses to contact or interact with a Business, information necessary to facilitate that interaction may be provided to the Business.
Once an independent Business receives personal information for its own business purposes, that Business may become independently responsible for its subsequent processing of that information.
Businesses are required under Hoodie's Business Terms to handle Resident information lawfully.
Hoodie is not responsible for an independent Business's unlawful use of personal information merely because the Resident originally found the Business through Hoodie, although suspected misuse may be reported to Hoodie.
8. WE DO NOT SELL RESIDENT PERSONAL INFORMATION
Hoodie does not sell Residents' personal information to participating Businesses as a database or mailing list.
A Business's subscription purchases advertising visibility within selected areas. It does not purchase unrestricted access to Residents' personal information.
9. DIRECT MARKETING
Hoodie may send information about Platform features, participating Businesses, promotions, specials or community benefits where permitted by law.
Where POPIA requires consent for unsolicited electronic direct marketing, Hoodie will seek the required consent.
Users must be given an appropriate means to opt out of marketing communications.
Under section 69 of POPIA, processing personal information for unsolicited electronic direct marketing is generally prohibited unless the data subject has consented or the specific existing-customer requirements in the Act are satisfied. A responsible party generally gets only one approach to request marketing consent from someone who has not previously withheld consent.
10. PUSH NOTIFICATIONS
Where the Hoodie application offers push notifications, users may receive operational notifications required for the Platform and, where appropriate permission exists, promotional notifications.
Users may be able to manage notification preferences through Hoodie or their device settings.
11. COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES
The Hoodie website and Platform may use cookies, software development kits, analytics technologies or similar tools to operate the service, maintain sessions, remember preferences, improve performance, understand Platform usage and maintain security.
Where consent is legally required for a particular technology or purpose, Hoodie will obtain appropriate consent.
12. PAYMENT INFORMATION
Business subscription payments may be processed by an independent payment provider such as PayFast.
Hoodie may receive transaction information necessary to determine whether a subscription has been successfully paid, failed, cancelled or refunded.
Hoodie does not store full payment-card credentials; these are processed by the payment provider.
13. SERVICE PROVIDERS
Hoodie may use third-party service providers to operate its technology and business.
These may include providers of:
- cloud hosting;
- database services;
- application infrastructure;
- email;
- SMS;
- push notifications;
- analytics;
- customer support;
- cybersecurity;
- payment processing;
- accounting; and
- professional services.
Where those providers process personal information on Hoodie's behalf, Hoodie will take appropriate measures required by applicable law.
14. CROSS-BORDER PROCESSING
Some technology or cloud service providers may process or store information outside South Africa.
Where personal information is transferred outside South Africa, Hoodie will take reasonable and legally appropriate measures to ensure the transfer complies with POPIA's requirements concerning transborder information flows.
15. INFORMATION SECURITY
Hoodie will take appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, damage, unauthorised destruction, unlawful access and unlawful processing.
No internet-connected system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
If Hoodie becomes aware of a security compromise involving personal information, it will respond in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
The Information Regulator provides a dedicated mechanism for organisations to report personal-information security compromises.
16. RETENTION OF INFORMATION
Hoodie will retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected or subsequently processed, or where retention is required or permitted by law.
Different categories of information may have different retention periods.
When information is no longer required, Hoodie will delete, destroy or de-identify it where appropriate and subject to legal requirements.
17. YOUR RIGHTS
Subject to POPIA and other applicable law, a data subject may have rights including the right to:
- know whether Hoodie holds personal information about them;
- request access to personal information;
- request correction of inaccurate information;
- request deletion or destruction where legally appropriate;
- object to certain processing;
- withdraw consent where processing depends on consent;
- object to direct marketing; and
- complain about unlawful processing.
The Information Regulator expressly identifies failures to respond to access, correction, deletion and objection requests as matters capable of forming the subject of POPIA complaints.
Requests should be sent to Hoodie's Information Officer using the contact details above.
18. ACCOUNT DELETION
Where appropriate, Residents may request deletion of their Hoodie account.
Deleting an account does not necessarily require Hoodie to immediately erase every record.
Hoodie may retain information where reasonably required for legal obligations, security, fraud prevention, dispute resolution, enforcement of agreements or other purposes permitted by law.
Information that Hoodie is no longer entitled or required to retain will be securely deleted, destroyed or appropriately de-identified.
19. CHILDREN
Residents must be at least 18 years old to register a Hoodie account.
Hoodie does not knowingly collect children's personal information through Resident registration.
20. INFORMATION RECEIVED THROUGH COMPLAINTS
If a Resident complains about a Business, or a Business complains about a Resident, Hoodie may process relevant information for purposes of investigating Platform misuse, protecting users, enforcing Platform rules and maintaining records of the matter.
Information should only be disclosed to other parties where reasonably necessary or legally permitted.
21. LEGAL DISCLOSURES
Hoodie may disclose personal information where required or permitted by law, including where reasonably necessary to comply with lawful court orders, regulatory obligations or legally valid requests from authorities, or to establish, exercise or defend legal rights.
22. BUSINESS TRANSFERS
If Hoodie Group or the Hoodie Platform is sold, reorganised, merged or transferred, relevant information may form part of the business assets transferred, subject to applicable privacy law and appropriate safeguards.
23. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
Hoodie may update this Policy to reflect changes in the Platform, technology, legal requirements or processing practices.
Material changes will be communicated appropriately.
The latest version should always be available through the Hoodie website and application.
24. CONTACTING HOODIE ABOUT PRIVACY
Questions, objections, requests or complaints regarding personal information should first be directed to:
Information Officer
Hoodie Group (Pty) Ltd
10 Bates Drive
Loevenstein
Bellville, Cape Town
7530
South Africa
Information Officer: Mrs MM Swart
Email: hello@hoodiegroup.co.za
Telephone: 072 527 3146
25. INFORMATION REGULATOR
If a privacy concern cannot be satisfactorily resolved with Hoodie, a person may lodge a POPIA complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa).
The Regulator currently provides an online complaint mechanism and lists its contact details as 010 023 5200, toll-free 0800 017 160, and enquiries@inforegulator.org.za.
Information Regulator – POPIA complaints: https://inforegulator.org.za/complaints/