Privacy Policy

1. Responsible party

Gilgal Consulting Services (Pty) Ltd t/a SA Shelter Hub, South Africa. Contact and Information Officer: Marlon Saville Petersen, info@shelterhub.co.za.

2. Short version

• No sign-up and no accounts for visitors.
• No advertising and no third-party tracking or marketing cookies.
• We collect only limited, anonymous usage information to understand how the directory is used and to improve it.

3. What we collect

Anonymous usage analytics. We run our own privacy-focused analytics. It records:

• an anonymous, randomly generated visitor identifier stored on your device (in local storage, not a cookie), used to count unique visits;
• the page or screen opened (for individual facility pages we record only a general "facility" route, not which facility);
• your device type (for example mobile or desktop), taken from your browser's user agent;
• the referring site or link, where available;
• anonymous tap events (the type of action and the date only), such as tapping a call or share button.

We do not use this to identify you, and we do not record your name, phone number, ID number, precise location or the searches you make — search terms are not stored. We flag and exclude bot and internal traffic from our statistics. Summary figures (such as total visits and page views) are shown publicly on our About page.

Technical server logs. Our hosting infrastructure (Cybersmart, Lovable, Supabase and Resend) automatically collects standard web server log data to ensure platform security, stability and abuse prevention. This information may include your IP address, browser type, referring page, operating system and timestamps. Technical logs are retained for security monitoring purposes for up to 30 days, after which they are automatically purged or anonymised.

Emails you send us. If you email info@shelterhub.co.za, we keep your email address and message so we can reply.

Practitioner and organisation listings. For shelter administrators, social workers or care facility representatives ("Practitioners") submitting or verifying facility listings, we collect organisational details including the facility name, contact person name, professional email address, telephone numbers and public intake criteria. This information is collected solely to maintain accurate directory records and facilitate coordination for individuals seeking shelter or support.

4. Why we use it (lawful purpose)

To operate and improve the directory, keep it secure, understand overall usage and respond to enquiries. We do not sell your information or use it for advertising.

5. Offline use

The Service can work offline. To do that, your device stores a copy of the site and directory data locally. This stays on your device and can be cleared in your browser settings.

6. Sharing

We do not sell or rent information. We share it only with the service providers that host or run the Service (Cybersmart, Lovable, Supabase and Resend), who may process it on our behalf under appropriate safeguards, or where the law requires it.

Data location and international transfers: While primary website hosting and DNS services are managed locally in South Africa via Cybersmart, cloud application infrastructure (including Lovable, Supabase and Resend) uses global cloud server regions located outside South Africa (such as the European Union and the United States).

In accordance with Section 72 of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), all international service providers used by SA Shelter Hub are bound by strict data processing terms, security standards and encryption protocols equivalent to or exceeding POPIA requirements.

7. Links to other sites

When you tap a link, call, WhatsApp share or map link, you leave our Service, and that service's own privacy practices apply. We do not receive your contact details from these actions.

8. Retention

Anonymous analytics are kept for 12 months, then deleted or aggregated. Emails are kept for as long as needed to deal with your enquiry.

9. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect information, including limiting what we collect and withholding protected facility addresses. No online system is completely secure.

10. Your rights

Under POPIA you may ask to access, correct or delete personal information we hold about you, and object to its processing. Because our analytics are anonymous, we generally cannot link them to you. To make a request, email info@shelterhub.co.za. You may also complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa): inforeg.org.za.

11. Children

The Service is open to everyone, but we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

12. Changes

We may update this policy. The "Last updated" date shows the current version.