Terms and Conditions

1 Access and Usage

1 .1 The person, hereafter referred to as the “User”, acknowledges, understands, agrees and subjects themselves to the terms and conditions, hereafter referred to as the Terms and Conditions, as stipulated herein when using or accessing the African Independent digital platforms, including but not limited to the website, social media and print publication, hereafter referred to as “African Independent”.

1.2 The holding company of African Independent, ANA Publishing, a division of African News Agency (ANA), hereafter referred to as ANA Publishing, may, without prior notice to the User and without any claims it holds under the law of the Republic of South Africa, modify and/or alter the Terms and Conditions herein. Notice of revisions to the Terms and Conditions will be posted to African Independent and the User’s continued usage of African Independent will constitute acceptance of these amendments.

1.3 Failure to comply with the Terms and Conditions may lead to immediate termination of access to African Independent without notice to the User.

1.4 The User is advised that they use and access African Independent and its associated services at their own risk. African Independent is provided “as is” and, to the extent permitted by applicable law in the Republic of South Africa and subject to the provisions of sections 43(5) and (6) of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002, hereafter referred to as the “ECTA”, ANA Publishing hereby expressly disclaims any and all express or implied warranties in respect of the content and offers published on African Independent.

1.5 Should the User have any questions or queries relating to African Independent’s Terms and Conditions, these may be addressed to [email protected].

2 Ownership and Content

2.1 All materials on African Independent, including trademarks and data, are the property of ANA Publishing and/or its licensors. ANA Publishing allows the User to retrieve and display content from African Independent on a computer screen, mobile device or similar device; to copy content; to download content to a local and individual hard disk drive; and to print individual pages, provided that such usage is only for personal or non-commercial use.

2.2 The User may not use the material obtained from or through African Independent for commercial or other unauthorised usage by means of publication, retransmission, distribution, performance, caching or otherwise, without prior written consent from ANA Publishing.

2.3 Content is protected from national and international intellectual property infringements: Any reproduction, in part or whole, of content on African Independent must include the following copyright notice: ©ANA Publishing 2019. All rights reserved.

3 Materials Posted by Users and Third Parties

3.1 No postings to discussion boards, social media, weblogs and/or similar platforms are private. ANA Publishing reserves the right to delete, use, reproduce, modify, translate, distribute and sub-licence any information provided or communicated to African Independent through such postings, in any existing medium or medium still to be developed, for any purpose.

3.2 Other information (i.e. information not communicated herein) is subject to the Privacy Policy of ANA Publishing as outlined in clause 5 herein.

3.3 Comments and/or posts that appear on African Independent are not endorsed, supported, sanctioned, encouraged or verified by ANA Publishing and ANA Publishing may, in no manner, be held responsible or accountable for any defamatory, offensive, illicit, or false information as provided by a User of African Independent.

3.4 The User should be aware that information provided by third parties or another User on African Independent, does not amount to professional advice or similar, and the User is encouraged to seek professional assistance where necessary.

3.5 Whereas ANA Publishing has a right to review, edit, alter, modify, delete or move any material posted by a User or third party, there is no duty on ANA Publishing to do so. Such actions will be undertaken at the sole discretion and without notice by ANA Publishing.

4 Links, Linkage and Framing

4.1 Any links from African Independent to a third party does not amount to an endorsement or guarantee of the third-party website and/or platform, and ANA Publishing shall not be held directly or indirectly accountable as a result of the contents or lack of contents on a linked third-party platform.

4.2 ANA Publishing also does not accept responsibility or liability for any third-party practices on third-party platforms and advises the User to consult third-party platforms’ terms and conditions in this regard.

4.3 Although third parties may link to African Independent, such link must be directed to the homepage of African Independent. Where a link is directed to any other page of African Independent, prior written consent from ANA Publishing is required. No linkage shall be permitted where the contents of a third-party platform is in any way offensive, distasteful or controversial.

4.4 No framing or bordering of any part or page of African Independent is allowed without prior written consent from ANA Publishing. Third-party platforms may not imply that ANA Publishing is in any way endorsing the products or services offered on such platform.

5 Privacy Policy and Security of Information

5.1 ANA Publishing is committed to ensuring the User’s online privacy and security as far as is reasonably possible. The User should ensure they do not divulge their usernames, passwords or other private information to any other persons.

5.2 ANA Publishing will not disclose the User’s information to any third parties without the User’s consent but may, under certain circumstances, disclose information to national and international legal authorities as prescribed by section 51 of the ECTA.

5.3 The User may, at any time and at their discretion, exercise the following rights to their personal data:

5.3.1 Right of access–the right to access the personal data and information about how the personal data is being processed, and includes the right to request a copy of the information that ANA Publishing has;

5.3.2 Right of rectification–the right to correct data they consider inaccurate or incomplete;

5.3.3 Right to erasure–in certain circumstances, the User can request the data ANA Publishing has collected on them to be erased from all records;

5.3.4 Right to objection and the restriction of processing–when certain conditions apply, the User many exercise their right to object and/or restrict certain types of processing of such data; and

5.3.5 Portability right–the right to have their data transferred to another organisation.

5.4 ANA Publishing collects the User’s information when the User voluntarily completes online forms and/or surveys and/or sends an email and/or message and/or comment to ANA Publishing. Information provided by the User in this context shall be used for the purpose for which it is provided unless the User is otherwise informed at the time of furnishing ANA Publishing with the information. ANA Publishing may use such information to contact the User and for non-personal or identifiable research purposes. ANA Publishing retains the right to otherwise use unidentifiable information.

5.5 The types of personal data collected by ANA Publishing includes, but is not limited to, the following:

5.5.1 Full or partial names;

5.5.2 Email addresses;

5.5.3 Contact numbers, including landlines and mobile numbers;

5.5.4 Associations with organisations and/or companies; and

5.5.5 Birth dates.

5.6 ANA Publishing limits the amount of personal data collected only to what is essential and fit for the purposes of distributing information as described in clause 5.4. ANA Publishing, to the best of its ability and the ability displayed by its employees, restricts, secures and controls all information supplied via email, telephone and other personal correspondence against unauthorised access, damage, loss or destruction, whether physical or electronic. ANA Publishing retains the personal data for as long as is required to respond to specific requests, or longer if required by law. If ANA Publishing retains personal data for historical or statistical purposes, it is ensured that this personal data cannot be used further or for any other purposes other than what is outlined within this privacy policy. While in the possession of ANA Publishing, together with assistance from the User/s who has supplied ANA Publishing with the personal data, accuracy of the data in question is maintained.

5.7 The User has the right to request access to any of their personal data held by ANA Publishing. If any of the information is incorrect, the User may request that it be corrected. If the User feels their personal data is being used improperly by ANA Publishing, they may request that ANA Publishing stop using it or delete it completely, where permissible by law in the Republic of South Africa. To access the personal data ANA Publishing may have collected or to exercise their right as outlined in this privacy policy, the User must send a written request to [email protected] or by registered mail to:

ANA Publishing

5th Floor, Newspaper House

122 St Georges Mall

Cape Town, 8001, South Africa

5.8 ANA Publishing may utilise cookies to improve personalised services to the User. Should the User not want cookies to be stored on their computer, they should disable cookies on their internet browser before accessing any ANA Publishing platforms.

6 Disclaimer

As prescribed by section 21 of the ECTA, no information, content or data on African Independent is an offer. No agreements shall be concluded merely by the sending of a data message to African Independent or ANA Publishing.