Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

This site is operated by K2022319871 (South Africa), registration number 2022/319871/07, trading as TUTSA. In this policy “TUTSA”, “we”, “us” and “our” mean that company.

For the purposes of the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”), TUTSA is the responsible party for the personal information described below.

Registered address: 21 Montpark Drive, Unit 19 Magalies, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2190, South Africa.
Information Officer: contactable at info@tutsa.co.za.

2. What this policy covers

This policy explains what personal information we collect through tutsa.co.za, why we process it, who we share it with, and the rights you have under POPIA. It applies to families and learners who use the site, to tutors who list a profile, and to anyone who contacts us.

It does not cover how an individual tutor handles information you give them once you are dealing with each other directly. A tutor is a separate, independent responsible party for the information they collect from you.

3. The information we collect

If you are a parent, guardian or learner sending an enquiry

• Your name, email address and, if you give it, your phone number
• The learner’s grade, subjects, curriculum and general area or suburb
• Anything you choose to write in your enquiry message
• Whether you asked for an introductory call, and your availability for one

If you are a tutor listing a profile

• Your name, email address, phone number and the areas you teach in
• A copy of your South African identity document or passport, for verification
• Your qualifications and supporting certificates or transcripts
• Your profile content: biography, subjects, grades, curricula, languages, availability, rates, photograph and any introduction video you upload
• Billing information needed to take your membership payment. Card details are handled by our payment provider and are not stored by us

From everyone who visits the site

• Technical information such as IP address, browser type, device type, pages viewed and referring page
• Cookie data, as described in section 13

4. Learners and children under 18

Section 35 of POPIA gives special protection to the personal information of children. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from a child under 18 without the consent of a competent person.

Enquiries about a learner under 18 must be sent by a parent or legal guardian. When you send an enquiry about your child you are giving consent, as the competent person, for us to process the limited learner information in that enquiry and to pass it to the tutor you selected.

Keep enquiry messages to what a tutor needs in order to help. Do not include a learner’s identity number, medical information, school reports or home address in an enquiry.

If you believe we hold information about a child that was given without a parent or guardian’s consent, email info@tutsa.co.za and we will delete it.

5. Why we process your information, and on what basis

POPIA requires a lawful basis for processing. Ours are set out below.

What we do	Why	Lawful basis
Pass your enquiry to the tutor you chose	It is the core function of the site	Necessary to carry out your request, and our legitimate interest in operating the platform
Verify a tutor’s identity and qualifications	So families can rely on who a tutor says they are	Performance of the tutor’s agreement with us, and legitimate interest in a trustworthy directory
Publish a tutor profile	So families can find that tutor	Performance of the tutor’s agreement with us, and the tutor’s consent
Take membership payments	To run the tutor subscription	Performance of the tutor’s agreement with us
Keep records, and meet tax and company law duties	We are legally required to	Compliance with a legal obligation
Send service messages and, where you agreed, updates	To keep you informed	Consent, or an existing customer relationship as allowed by section 69 of POPIA
Keep the site secure and diagnose faults	To protect users and the service	Legitimate interest

6. Who we share it with

• The tutor you enquire with. Your name, contact details and the content of your enquiry are sent to that tutor so they can reply to you. We do not send your enquiry to tutors you did not select.
• Service providers acting as operators for us, including our website host, email delivery provider and payment provider. They may process personal information only on our instruction and must keep it confidential and secure.
• Professional advisers such as our accountants or attorneys, where needed.
• Law enforcement, regulators or a court, where we are legally required to disclose information or need to establish or defend a legal claim.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own marketing.

7. Tutor contact details

A tutor’s telephone number is not published in full on a public profile. Where we make calling or messaging available, contact may be routed through the platform so that a tutor’s personal number is not exposed until they choose to share it. Once a tutor replies to you directly, any further contact is between the two of you and is outside our control.

8. Information sent outside South Africa

Some of our service providers, such as hosting and email delivery, process information on servers outside South Africa. Where that happens we rely on section 72 of POPIA, and we only use providers that are bound by an agreement or by laws that give the information a level of protection substantially similar to POPIA.

9. How long we keep information

• Enquiries: up to 24 months from the date of the enquiry, so that we can resolve disputes and understand demand.
• Tutor profiles and verification documents: for as long as the profile is active, and for 5 years after it closes where we need the record for legal or tax purposes.
• Payment and accounting records: 5 years, as required by South African tax law.
• Technical logs: normally no more than 12 months.

When a period ends we delete the information or de-identify it so that it can no longer be linked to you.

10. How we protect it

As required by section 19 of POPIA we take reasonable technical and organisational steps to secure personal information, including encrypted connections to the site, access controls so that staff only see what they need, and vetting of the providers we use.

No system is completely secure. If a security compromise affects your personal information we will notify you and the Information Regulator as required by section 22 of POPIA.

11. Your rights

Under POPIA you have the right to:

• Ask what personal information we hold about you, and get a copy of it
• Ask us to correct information that is wrong, misleading or out of date
• Ask us to delete information we no longer have a lawful reason to keep
• Object to processing that we base on legitimate interest
• Withdraw consent at any time, where consent is what we relied on
• Complain to the Information Regulator

To exercise any of these, email info@tutsa.co.za. We may ask you to confirm your identity first. We will respond within a reasonable time and in any event within the periods POPIA allows. A request for access may be made on the prescribed form and a fee may apply where POPIA permits one.

Information Regulator (South Africa)
JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001
General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
Complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za

12. Direct marketing

We will only send you marketing by electronic means where you have agreed to it, or where you are an existing customer and the message relates to a similar service, as section 69 of POPIA allows. Every marketing message includes a way to unsubscribe, and we act on unsubscribe requests promptly.

13. Cookies and analytics

We use cookies that are necessary for the site to work, such as remembering a search or keeping a session active. We may also use analytics cookies to understand which pages are used and where people run into trouble.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. If you block necessary cookies some parts of the site may not work properly.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the platform changes or as the law requires. The date at the top shows when it was last revised. Where a change materially affects your rights we will bring it to your attention on the site.

15. Contact us

For anything in this policy, including access, correction and deletion requests, contact our Information Officer at info@tutsa.co.za, or write to K2022319871 (South Africa), 21 Montpark Drive, Unit 19 Magalies, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2190.