Privacy policy

The information we hold

The information we hold depends on your relationship with us. From buyers, we hold the details necessary to conclude and fulfil an order: your name and contact details, the addresses to which animals are delivered, your order history, and the payment references associated with your purchases. We do not hold your card details at any stage, as these are handled entirely within PayFast’s secure environment and are never transmitted to us. From those who supply livestock to us or provide services to us, we hold, in addition, the documentation required to verify identity, ownership, tax status and banking arrangements. From all visitors, we hold the limited technical information needed to operate the site securely and reliably.

Because we are obliged to maintain records that allow an animal to be traced through its journey to you, some of the records we keep about animals necessarily contain personal information about the people connected with them, such as those who transport or inspect them. We treat those records with the same care as any other personal information in our keeping.

How we use your information

We use the information we hold to conclude and fulfil your orders, to arrange collection, delivery and, where you request them, slaughter and cutting, to verify those who supply or provide services to us, to maintain the financial and traceability records the law requires us to keep, and to communicate with you about your orders and our service. We do not sell personal information, and we do not use it for any purpose that is incompatible with those set out here.

The basis on which we process it

We process personal information where it is necessary to perform our agreement with you, where we are required to do so by law, where it serves our legitimate interest in operating the platform responsibly and securely, or where you have given your consent. Where our processing rests on your consent, you remain free to withdraw it, and we will tell you if doing so affects our ability to provide a particular part of our service.

How we keep it secure

Documents supplied during verification are held in a private store that is not publicly accessible, and are reached only through short-lived links generated for a single, authorised request; every occasion on which a member of our staff views such a document is recorded. Access to personal information within our organisation is confined to those who need it for their work. As set out above, payment card details never reach our systems at all, which removes an entire category of risk from our care.

When we share information

We share information with the service providers who assist in fulfilling your order, such as transporters and abattoirs, and then only to the extent that they require it to perform their part. Where the law obliges us to do so, we provide animal movement and health records to the state veterinary services and to other authorities on lawful request. We would always rather be open about this obligation than leave it unstated, because it exists to protect animal and public health.

How long we keep it

We retain personal information only for as long as it is needed for the purposes described in this policy, or for as long as the law requires. Financial records are kept for a minimum of five years. Records maintained for the purpose of traceability are kept for the period set by veterinary and food-safety law, which is longer than we would otherwise retain such information, precisely because those records exist to allow disease to be traced long after a sale has concluded.

Your rights over your information

The Act affords you a number of rights over your personal information. You are entitled to ask what information we hold about you and to receive a copy of it, to have inaccurate information corrected, to have information deleted where we are not required to retain it, and to object to particular kinds of processing. We will respond to any such request within the time the law allows.

There is one limit on deletion that we would rather state plainly than obscure. You may remove your marketing preferences and profile at any time, and we will act on that promptly. We cannot, however, delete the record that a particular animal was sold and delivered to you, because that record forms part of the traceability obligation imposed on us by law. We prefer to explain this openly than to promise a deletion we are not permitted to carry out.

Our Information Officer

Our Information Officer is Tapson Sadiki, who may be contacted at privacy@thecattlexchange.com. Any request concerning your personal information, and any complaint about the way in which we have handled it, may be addressed to that office. You are also entitled to lodge a complaint directly with the Information Regulator of South Africa, whose office oversees compliance with the Act.