Our Commitment to Your Privacy
THE OMBUDSMAN ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH AFRICA (“TOASA”, “we” or “us”) is committed to protecting your privacy. We value the trust of our subscribers and all others who work with us, and we recognize that maintaining your trust requires that we be transparent and accountable in how we handle your personal information. For that reason, we call our Privacy Policy and Practices “Our Commitment to Your Privacy.” This privacy policy is incorporated into and subject to the terms and conditions of the TOASA Terms of Use agreement.
The following Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard personal information.
Definitions
In this privacy policy TOASA makes use of the following terms:
What personal information do we collect?
You have complete control over your personal information. In general, you can visit our website without providing us with any personal information. There are, however, instances in which you will need to provide us with your personal information, for instance, when you request our office to open a complaint against the participant. This information may include registration data (your name, email address, physical and postal addresses, phone number, title, participant account number, identity number, and other information), information request data, and response data (User information). TOASA conducts its business in accordance with South African legislation. TOASA considers it imperative to protect the privacy interests of data subjects. We do not, except where otherwise permitted by law, collect, use, or disclose your Personal Information without your consent.
What Non-Personal Information do we collect?
Non-personal information is gathered automatically when you visit our website and is stored for use on our system. TOASA may collect and analyze non-personal information to evaluate how visitors use the TOASA website.
Use of Non-Personal Information
The Non-Personal Information we collect is used for aggregate reporting, performance, and effectiveness of the TOASA website and may include the pages visited on the TOASA website, unique URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) visited within www.toasa.org.za, browser type, and IP (Internet Protocol) address. We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server, to administer our website, and to gather broad demographic information. Most non-personal information is collected via cookies or other technologies for data analysis and personalisation services.
Retention of Personal and Non-Personal Information
All Personal Information retained on our database is in accordance with the retention provisions set out in the applicable Laws and Regulations of South Africa.
Children’s privacy
TOASA is committed to protecting the privacy rights of children, and we encourage parents/guardians to participate in their children’s online activities. TOASA does not knowingly collect information from children and does not target children with its website.
How do we use your information?
TOASA uses your personal information to provide a service to you, specifically to communicate with you and the participant regarding your complaint. We will not sell, rent or share your information.
We may occasionally use your information to contact you for feedback regarding the services of TOASA.
Ensuring Your Personal Information is Correct and Accurate
You have a right to ensure that your Personal Information is accurate, complete, and up to date. If you contact us to correct your user information, we will attempt to correct such inaccuracies in a timely manner
Security
We have adopted an industry grade best of breed security model to protect your Personal Information. As part of our security model, we have implemented fire-wall technology, password controls, encryption processes, antivirus software as well as physical measures. We have a stringent security policy in place that every officer, employer and supplier of TOASA must adhere to.
Usernames and Passwords
To gain access to certain information, specifically the progress on your complaint, TOASA will require you to register, where after you will receive a Username and Password. In some cases, failure to provide information may prevent you from accessing these sections of the TOASA website. By accessing and using our protected and secured website, you agree to maintain the confidentiality of the username and password used to access the site and consent to our terms and conditions
Cookies
Our site uses cookies in a limited way. Cookies are small files containing information that a website uses to track a visit. Both persistent and session cookies are used by many websites. However, we use session cookies only to better understand how our site is used, to make sure our information and dynamic content are served up to visitors correctly, and to improve the performance of our site for users, particularly the way search pages are delivered. Session cookies do not remain on your computer at the end of your visit, and cannot be used to obtain any personally identifiable details. Most browsers automatically accept cookies by default, but you can usually refuse cookies or selectively accept certain cookies by adjusting the preferences in your browser. If you turn off cookies, there may be some features of our site that will not be available to you and some web pages may not display properly.
Third-Party Sites
Our website may contain links to third party websites. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own terms and privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for them.
Because we are not responsible for any representations or information or warranties or content on any website of any third party (including websites linked to this website or websites facilitated by us), we do not exercise control over third parties’ privacy policies, and you should refer to the privacy policy of any such third party before given them any of your personal information. TOASA will not share personal information with any other third parties without your permission, unless required by law enforcement action, subpoena, or local law.
Updating of Privacy Policy
We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to update, modify, or amend (including without limitation, by the addition of new terms and conditions) this Privacy Policy from time to time with or without notice. You, therefore, agree to review the Privacy Policy whenever you visit our website for any such change. Save as expressly provided to the contrary in this Privacy Policy, the amended version of the Privacy Policy shall supersede and replace all previous versions thereof.
Please check our site on an on-going basis or contact us for the most up-to-date information on our privacy practices.
Contact Information
Questions, concerns or complaints related to our Privacy Policy, or our treatment of Personal Information should be directed to:
THE OMBUDSMAN ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH AFRICA
292 Surrey Avenue, Ferndale, Randburg, 2194
Tel: 011 781 6431
Advancing fairness through united action: A call to join the TOASA movement.
As part of their commitment to transparency and accountability, each TOASA member publishes an annual report in addition to other publications.
These consumer bodies are not necessarily ombud schemes; nor are they members of TOASA. They do however provide specialist consumer assistance and protection services and solutions.