Our PAIA manual
What records we keep and how to ask for them, under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) and POPIA. Last updated: 29 September 2026.
The short version
- Nearby Social is a small, one-person business. This manual explains what records we keep and how you can ask to see them.
- Want a copy of the personal information we hold about you? Just email or WhatsApp us. There’s no fee for asking about your own information.
- For anything else, use the official request form (Form 2). We reply within 30 days.
- Not happy with our answer? You can complain to the Information Regulator.
1. About this manual
This manual is published under section 51 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA) and covers the information required by the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). It’s available free of charge on this website, and we’ll email you a copy if you ask. You may also ask the Information Regulator for it.
2. Who we are and how to reach us
| Business | Nearby Social, a sole proprietorship (not a registered company) |
|---|---|
| Owner and head of the business | Hugo Swanepoel |
| Information Officer | Hugo Swanepoel, registered with the Information Regulator |
| Deputy Information Officer | None appointed (one-person business) |
| nearby.social.primary@gmail.com | |
| Phone and WhatsApp | +27 78 040 6698 |
| Physical and postal address | 37 Marignane Avenue, Bonaero Park, Kempton Park, Gauteng, 1622, South Africa |
| Website | nearbysocial.co.za |
3. The Information Regulator’s guide
The Information Regulator publishes a guide on how to use PAIA and POPIA, in all official languages. You can get it from the Regulator’s website, inforegulator.org.za, by emailing enquiries@inforegulator.org.za, or at their offices at JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001.
4. Records you can see without a formal request
These are freely available on this website: our services and prices, our Terms and conditions, Privacy, Refund, Cancellation and Delivery policies, and this manual. Our public Instagram and Facebook posts are also open to everyone.
5. Records we keep because the law requires it
We keep records as required by, among others:
- Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 and Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 (invoices, payments and business income)
- Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (quotes, agreements, cancellations and refunds)
- Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 (online agreements and records)
- Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013
- Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000
This list isn’t exhaustive. If a law we haven’t listed requires a record, we keep it.
6. The kinds of records we keep
| Subject | Records |
|---|---|
| Running the business | Registrations (such as with the Information Regulator and the CGSO), policies, supplier and tool accounts, expense records |
| Clients | Quotes, signed agreements, intake answers, content calendars, drafts and approvals, reports, invoices and payment records, messages |
| People who contact us | Website enquiries, emails and WhatsApp or social media messages |
| Businesses we might approach | Publicly available business details and notes (see our Privacy policy), and our “please don’t contact” list |
| Our own marketing | Posts, graphics, captions and publishing records for Nearby Social’s own pages |
| Finance | Invoices, receipts, payment records and income and expense records |
7. How we handle personal information (POPIA)
Why we use it: to reply to enquiries, agree and deliver our services, send invoices and take payment, keep the records the law requires, and, at most once, ask a business whether it would like to hear from us.
Whose information we hold, and what:
- Clients and their staff: names, business details, contact details, billing details, content and material they share, and team access to their pages (never passwords).
- People who enquire: name, business name, email, WhatsApp number and their message.
- Businesses we might approach: public business name, category, public contact details, web and social links, and public ratings.
- Our clients’ customers: only what appears in material a client shares with us or on the client’s own pages. For this, the client is the responsible party and we act as their operator.
- Suppliers: account and billing details.
Who else may receive it: the services we use to run the business (listed in our Privacy policy), our payment provider, and authorities such as SARS when the law requires it. We never sell or rent personal information.
Sending it outside South Africa: some of those services store data outside South Africa. We only use services bound by adequate data-protection rules, as POPIA section 72 requires. Details are in our Privacy policy.
How we keep it safe: accounts protected with strong passwords and two-step verification where offered; role-based access to client pages instead of passwords; files kept on password-protected devices and trusted cloud services; only the owner has access; and information deleted on the timelines in our Privacy policy. If there’s ever a security breach affecting your information, we’ll tell you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.
8. How to ask for a record
- Your own personal information: email or WhatsApp us, tell us who you are and what you’d like to see. We may ask you to confirm your identity. There’s no fee for this.
- Any other record: complete Form 2 (Request for access to a record) from the PAIA Regulations, available on the Information Regulator’s website, and email it to us. Describe the record as clearly as you can, say how you’d like to receive it (for example by email), and explain which of your rights you need it to exercise or protect.
- Fees: for records other than your own personal information, PAIA allows a prescribed request fee and access fees (for example for copying or preparing records). We’ll tell you the exact amount before we do any work, and you can ask us to explain it.
- Our answer: we decide within 30 days. If the request is large, we may extend that once by up to 30 days and will tell you why.
- If we refuse: we’ll explain why, based on the grounds for refusal in Part 3, Chapter 4 of PAIA (for example, to protect someone else’s privacy or confidential business information).
9. If you’re not happy with our decision
You can complain to the Information Regulator within 180 days of our decision, or apply to a court. Information Regulator: inforegulator.org.za · PAIA complaints: PAIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za · POPIA complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za.
10. Keeping this manual up to date
We review this manual whenever something important changes, and at least once a year. The date at the top shows the latest version.
Our other policies: Privacy policy · Terms & conditions · Refund policy · Cancellation policy · Delivery policy