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Data Deletion Instructions

How to delete your iSpani account and personal data – iSpani Africa (Pty) Ltd

Under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 ("POPIA"), you have the right to request deletion of personal information that iSpani Africa (Pty) Ltd holds about you. This page explains how to make that request and what happens after you do.

How to request deletion

You can request deletion in one of two ways:

1. From inside the app: sign in at ispani.africa, go to Settings → Privacy & Data, and click "Request account deletion". This opens a pre-filled email to our Information Officer.
2. By email: send a deletion request to hello@ispani.africa from the email address linked to your account, with the subject line "Account deletion request". Include your registered phone number or email so we can verify your identity.

What gets deleted

• Your account profile (name, email, phone number, business details, logo, branding)
• Voice recordings and transcriptions
• Quotes, invoices, and customer/CRM data you created
• Bank statement data you uploaded
• Usage and analytics data linked to your account
• Stored WhatsApp message history relating to your account

What we have to keep, and for how long

Some records can't be deleted immediately because South African law requires us to keep them:

• Billing and tax records – retained for at least 5 years after account closure (section 29 of the Tax Administration Act, 28 of 2011).
• Accounting records falling under section 24 of the Companies Act, 71 of 2008 – retained for 7 years.
• Anonymised usage data – identifiable usage data is deleted within 12 months of account closure; the remainder is retained in anonymised form.

Where we are required to retain records, we hold them under restricted access and use them only for the legal purpose that requires retention. Once the retention period expires, the records are deleted.

WhatsApp data specifically

iSpani uses the WhatsApp Business Cloud API (operated by Meta Platforms Ireland Limited) to deliver quotes and invoices to your customers at your instruction. When you request deletion, we remove:

• Your WhatsApp message history within iSpani
• Recipient phone numbers stored on your behalf
• Documents queued for WhatsApp delivery

Message records held by Meta on their own infrastructure are subject to Meta's own retention policies and are outside iSpani's control. To request deletion of data Meta holds about you directly, contact Meta through their support channels.

Other data rights

POPIA also gives you the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you (section 23)
• Correct inaccurate, out-of-date, or incomplete information (section 24)
• Object to processing on reasonable grounds (section 11(3))
• Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent
• Opt out of direct marketing at any time (section 69)

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@ispani.africa.

Contact

iSpani Africa (Pty) Ltd
Registration number: 2026/245486/07
37a Karee St, Randpark Ridge, 2191, South Africa
Information Officer: Philile Mlotshwa
Email: hello@ispani.africa

If you're not satisfied

If you believe we have not handled your deletion request properly, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the South African Information Regulator:

JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001
Complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
Website: inforegulator.org.za

For full details on what we collect and how we use it, see our legal documents, including our Privacy Policy & POPIA s18 Notification.