Privacy Policy

Introduction

Cape Town Insider ("we", "us", or "our") is a Cape Town lifestyle and travel blog operated by LeadWood Growth Pty. Ltd., a company registered in South Africa. Our website is located at capetowninsider.co.za.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use it, and what rights you have under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA). It applies to all visitors and users of our website, including those who subscribe to our newsletter, submit a contact form, or interact with our content.

By using our website, you agree to the collection and use of information as described in this policy.

Information We Collect

We collect information in two ways: information you give us directly, and information collected automatically when you visit our site.

Information you provide

• Contact form submissions — your name, email address, and any message you send us.
• Newsletter sign-up — your email address, and optionally your first name.
• Guest post enquiries — your name, email address, and any content or materials you submit.

Information collected automatically

• Usage data — pages you visit, time spent on pages, referring URLs, and how you navigate our site. This is collected through Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID: G-FS7PJ7T5WJ).
• Device and browser information — your IP address, browser type and version, operating system, screen resolution, and language preferences.
• Cookies and similar technologies — small data files stored on your device. See the Cookies and Tracking Technologies section below for full details.

We do not collect sensitive personal information such as your race, religion, health information, or biometric data.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Respond to your enquiries — when you contact us through the website or email, we use your details to reply.
• Send newsletters — if you opt in, we send you email updates about new content, Cape Town recommendations, and occasional promotions. You can unsubscribe at any time.
• Improve our website — we analyse usage data to understand which content is most useful and how to make the site better.
• Serve relevant advertising — we use Google AdSense to display ads on our site. AdSense may use cookies to show ads based on your interests.
• Maintain security — Cloudflare helps us protect the site from spam, bots, and malicious traffic, and may process your IP address and device information for this purpose.

We will never sell your personal information to third parties.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. We use the following types of cookies:

Essential cookies

These are necessary for the website to function properly. They include Cloudflare security cookies that protect the site from malicious traffic. You cannot opt out of essential cookies without affecting how the site works.

Analytics cookies

We use Google Analytics 4 (via Google Tag Manager, container ID: GTM-TFWGMXBD) to understand how visitors use our site. These cookies collect information such as which pages you visit, how long you stay, and where you came from. This data is aggregated and does not personally identify you.

Google Analytics cookies include _ga and _ga_*, which are stored for up to 2 years.

Advertising cookies

Google AdSense may place cookies on your device to serve ads relevant to your interests. These cookies track your browsing activity across websites that participate in the Google ad network.

You can manage your Google ad preferences at adssettings.google.com.

Managing cookies

Most browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. You can choose to block or delete cookies, but this may affect your experience on our site. For more information on managing cookies, visit allaboutcookies.org.

Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services, each of which may collect or process your data according to their own privacy policies:

• Google Analytics 4 — website analytics. Google Privacy Policy
• Google Tag Manager — manages analytics and advertising tags. Google Tag Manager Terms
• Google AdSense — display advertising. Google Ad Privacy
• Cloudflare — content delivery network and security. Cloudflare Privacy Policy
• Newsletter email service — we use a third-party platform to manage and send our newsletter. Provider and privacy link to be confirmed.
• Affiliate networks — some of our content includes affiliate links. When you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, the affiliate network may collect information about your transaction. We will clearly mark affiliate content on our site.

Data Retention

We keep your personal information only for as long as it is needed for the purpose it was collected:

• Contact form submissions — retained for up to 12 months after your enquiry is resolved, then deleted.
• Newsletter subscriber data — retained for as long as you remain subscribed. When you unsubscribe, your data is deleted within 30 days.
• Analytics data — Google Analytics retains aggregated usage data according to our configured retention period (14 months). Individual user data is anonymised after this period.

If you request deletion of your data at any time, we will action it within 30 days. See your rights below.

Your Rights Under POPIA

[This section is recommended for legal review.]

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

• Access — request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correction — ask us to update or correct inaccurate information.
• Deletion — request that we delete your personal information, subject to any legal obligations that require us to keep it.
• Objection — object to the processing of your personal information for direct marketing or other purposes.
• Withdraw consent — withdraw your consent to processing at any time (for example, unsubscribing from our newsletter). This does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before you withdrew consent.
• Lodge a complaint — if you believe your personal information has been mishandled, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa.

Information Regulator (South Africa)
Website: inforegulator.org.za
Email: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at kath@capetowninsider.co.za. We will respond within 30 days.

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 are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at kath@capetowninsider.co.za and we will delete it promptly.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Effective" date at the top of this page. If we make significant changes, we will notify you by posting a notice on our website.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact us:

Email: kath@capetowninsider.co.za

Postal address:
LeadWood Growth Pty. Ltd.
P.O. Box 591274
Kenray, Gauteng, 2100
South Africa