Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 28 February 2026  |  The Public Dispatch  |  publicdispatch.co.za

The Public Dispatch ("we", "our", or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose and safeguard your information when you visit our website at publicdispatch.co.za and its subdomains.

Please read this policy carefully. If you disagree with its terms, please discontinue use of our site.

1. Information We Collect

Information you provide directly:

• Contact form submissions — your name, email address, subject and message when you contact us
• Newsletter subscriptions — your email address when you subscribe to our daily briefing
• Comments — any comments you submit on articles via Facebook Comments

Information collected automatically:

• Log data — your browser type, IP address, pages visited and time spent on pages
• Cookies — small files stored on your device to improve your experience
• Analytics data — aggregated data about how visitors use our site via Google Analytics

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Respond to your enquiries and contact form submissions
• Send you our newsletter if you have subscribed
• Improve and optimise our website and content
• Understand how readers engage with our journalism
• Comply with legal obligations
• Detect and prevent fraud or abuse

3. Sharing Your Information

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties. We may share your information only in the following circumstances:

• Service providers — trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, including Supabase (database), Formspree (contact form) and Google (analytics)
• Legal requirements — if required by law, court order or governmental authority
• Protection of rights — to protect the rights, property or safety of The Public Dispatch, our readers or others

4. Cookies

We use cookies to enhance your experience on our site. Cookies are small text files stored on your device. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some features of our site may not function properly without cookies.

We use the following types of cookies:

• Essential cookies — necessary for the site to function
• Analytics cookies — help us understand how visitors interact with our site (Google Analytics)
• Social media cookies — placed by Facebook for the comments and page feed features

5. Third-Party Services

Our website uses the following third-party services, each with their own privacy policies:

• Google Analytics — website traffic analysis — Google Privacy Policy
• Google AdSense — advertising — Google Privacy Policy
• Facebook — comments and social features — Facebook Privacy Policy
• Supabase — database and storage — Supabase Privacy Policy
• Formspree — contact form processing — Formspree Privacy Policy

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy. Contact form submissions are retained for up to 12 months. Newsletter subscriber data is retained until you unsubscribe.

7. Your Rights (POPIA)

Under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), you have the right to:

• Know what personal information we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate information
• Request deletion of your personal information
• Object to the processing of your personal information
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details below.

8. Children's Privacy

Our website is not directed at children under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have inadvertently collected information from a child, please contact us immediately.

9. Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction. However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new policy on this page with an updated effective date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

11. Advertising

We use Google AdSense to display advertisements on our site. Google may use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to our website or other websites. You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.