Privacy Policy
How the South African Union of Students collects, uses, protects, and shares your personal information — in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), Act 4 of 2013.
Last updated: 24 June 2026 · Effective immediately
1. Who We Are
The South African Union of Students ("SAUS", "we", "us") is the national representative body for students at South Africa's 26 public universities. We are the responsible party for the personal information processed through this website, as defined by the Protection of Personal Information Act, Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA"). Questions about this policy may be directed to our Information Officer at Secretariat@saus.org.za.
2. Information We Collect
| Category | What & why |
|---|---|
| Student guidance / contact form | Name, email, phone, province, APS score, field of interest and your message — used only to respond to your request. |
| Technical data | IP address and browser user-agent, captured with form submissions to prevent abuse and spam. IP addresses are automatically removed from contact messages after 90 days. |
| Cookies | A single essential cookie that remembers your cookie-consent choice. We use no analytics, advertising, or third-party tracking cookies. |
| We practise data minimisation — we collect only what is necessary for the service. | |
3. How We Use It & Legal Basis
We process your personal information to: respond to student guidance and contact requests; operate and secure this website; and comply with our legal obligations. Under POPIA our lawful bases are your consent (which you give when submitting a form) and our legitimate interest in operating a secure service. We never sell your personal information, and we do not use it for automated decision-making or profiling.
4. Who We Share With
We share personal information only with the service providers who host and operate this website, its content management system and its database on our behalf. Each acts under a written agreement that limits them to processing the data for SAUS, protecting it with appropriate security measures and deleting it when the service ends. A list of our current operators is available on request from the Information Officer. We may also disclose information where the law requires it. We do not sell or rent your data to anyone.
5. Data Retention
We keep contact and guidance submissions only for as long as needed to handle your request and for a reasonable period thereafter for record-keeping, after which they are deleted. Technical logs are retained for a short period for security purposes.
6. Your Rights Under POPIA
You have the right to: access the personal information we hold about you; request correction or deletion of it; object to its processing; and withdraw consent at any time. To exercise any of these, email Secretariat@saus.org.za and we will respond within a reasonable time. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa) at inforegulator.org.za or enquiries@inforegulator.org.za.
7. Cookies & Consent
This site uses one essential cookie to remember your consent choice. We do not set non-essential, analytics, or advertising cookies, so no tracking occurs before or without your consent. You can clear cookies at any time in your browser settings.
8. Security & International Transfers
We protect your information with HTTPS encryption in transit, encryption at rest, access controls, and rate limiting. Some of our service providers may store data outside South Africa; where this occurs we rely on providers that offer protection consistent with POPIA's requirements for trans-border information flows (Section 72).
9. Changes & Contact
We may update this policy from time to time; the "last updated" date above reflects the latest version. For any privacy query or to exercise your rights, contact our Information Officer:
Information Officer — SAUS Secretariat
Email: Secretariat@saus.org.za
Phone: +27 79 129 5948
Website: www.saus.org.za