PAIA manual
The Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2 of 2000 (PAIA), gives everyone the right to ask for records held by a private body where a record is needed to exercise or protect a right. This manual explains what Helderberg Social holds and how to ask for it. Most people who want to know what we hold about themselves do not need PAIA at all: see your rights in the privacy notice, which is quicker and free.
1. Who we are, and the contact for requests
| Name | Helderberg Social, a volunteer-run community site, app and WhatsApp community, run by Corne Kruger as a private individual. It is not a registered company. |
|---|---|
| Head and information officer | Corne Kruger |
| cornekruger1@gmail.com | |
| Postal address | Given on request to the email above |
| Website | helderbergsocial.co.za |
2. The Information Regulator's guide
The Information Regulator publishes a guide on how to use PAIA and POPIA (section 10 of PAIA), in each official language. It is available on the Regulator's website, inforegulator.org.za, and from the Regulator's offices. We will send you a copy on request.
3. Records available without a request
Everything published on helderbergsocial.co.za and in the app is available to anyone, without a request: the events, listings, places and groups, and the legal pages, including this manual.
4. Records we hold
| Subject | Categories of records |
|---|---|
| Members | Account details, vetting details and decisions, consent records, sign-in records, join requests, the list of pages and app screens opened |
| Subscribers | Email addresses and phone numbers for updates, their preferences, the WhatsApp message log |
| Events and listings | Submitted and gathered events and listings, their review decisions, reports about private events |
| Community groups | The groups' names and settings, scam and spam records, join-request notes |
| Safety and operations | The admin record (audit log), blocks, browser records, rate-limit records, mail counts, backups |
| Correspondence | Email and messages with members, organisers and the public |
We are not required by any other Act to keep specific records available to the public (section 51(1)(b)(iii)). Records we hold because other laws apply to us, such as POPIA, the Consumer Protection Act and the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, are the ones listed above.
5. How we process personal information
As section 51(1)(c) of PAIA requires, the details are in the privacy notice. In summary:
- Purposes: running the site, the app, the updates and the WhatsApp community; vetting members; keeping the community and the site safe.
- Data subjects and information: members (names, age, contact details, home address, account activity), subscribers (contact details and preferences), people who submit events (name and email), people who message the WhatsApp number or post in the groups (number, messages as described), people whose public posts we gather events from (the post).
- Recipients: community admins, for vetting only; the services listed under who else sees it; authorities where the law requires.
- Transfers outside South Africa: to WhatsApp (Meta), Expo, Google and the web services listed in the privacy notice, only to deliver the service.
- Security: as described under how it is kept safe.
6. How to ask for a record
- Use Form 2 of the PAIA Regulations, Request for access to record, available on the Information Regulator's website, or write to us with the same details: who you are, the record you want, the right you want to exercise or protect and why the record is needed for it, and how you want to receive it.
- Send it to cornekruger1@gmail.com. We may need to confirm your identity, and if you ask on someone else's behalf, your authority to do so.
- We decide within 30 days and tell you the result in writing. The period can be extended once by up to 30 days in the cases section 57 of PAIA allows; we will tell you if that happens and why.
Fees: we do not charge for a request for your own personal information. For any other request, PAIA allows the fees set in the PAIA Regulations: a request fee, and an access fee for finding and copying the record. We will tell you the amount before we do the work, and you may ask us to waive it.
7. When a request can be refused
PAIA requires or allows us to refuse a record in the cases set out in Chapter 4 of Part 3 of the Act, including where giving it would unreasonably disclose another person's personal information, or confidential information, or endanger someone's safety. Where only part of a record must be refused, we give you the rest. If we refuse, we tell you why, with reference to the Act.
8. If you are not satisfied
You may complain to the Information Regulator, within 180 days of our decision, or apply to a court (sections 77A and 78 of PAIA). The Regulator's contact details are on inforegulator.org.za.
9. Availability and updates
This manual is published on this website and is available from the contact above on request, free of charge. It is reviewed when what we hold or how we process it changes, and at least once a year.
Last updated 2 November 2026.