Privacy Policy

Onah Attorneys Inc (“Onah Attorneys”, “we”, “us” or “our”) is committed to protecting the privacy of every person whose personal information we process. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share and safeguard your personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) and, where applicable, the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA). It applies to visitors to onah-attorneys.co.za, to clients and prospective clients, and to any other person who interacts with our firm.

Who We Are and Our Information Officer

Onah Attorneys Inc is a firm of Attorneys, Notaries and Conveyancers practising in the Republic of South Africa. As the responsible party, we determine the purpose of and means for processing your personal information. Our Information Officer, duly registered with the Information Regulator, is accountable for our compliance with POPIA and may be contacted using the details in the “Contact and Information Officer” section below.

Personal Information We Collect

Depending on how you engage with us, we may collect and process the following categories of personal information:

• Identifying information such as your name, identity or passport number, date of birth and residential or business address;
• Contact details including your email address and telephone or mobile number;
• Financial and billing information required to render and account for legal services;
• Matter-related information you provide in the course of instructing us, which may include special personal information such as details relevant to litigation, family or estate matters;
• Information submitted through our online contact forms, WhatsApp chat or email correspondence; and
• Technical information such as your IP address, browser type and usage data collected automatically when you visit our website (see our Cookie Policy).

Lawful Basis and Purpose of Processing

We process personal information only where we have a lawful basis to do so under POPIA. These bases include your consent, the performance of a mandate or contract with you, compliance with a legal obligation (such as the Legal Practice Act and the Financial Intelligence Centre Act), the protection of a legitimate interest, and the pursuit of our legitimate interests in operating and marketing our practice in a balanced manner. We use your personal information to provide legal, notarial and conveyancing services, to communicate with you, to conduct client due diligence, to render accounts, to comply with our regulatory duties and to respond to enquiries submitted through our website.

Your Rights as a Data Subject

POPIA affords you the following rights in respect of your personal information:

• The right to be notified that your information is being collected and processed;
• The right to access the personal information we hold about you;
• The right to request correction, deletion or destruction of information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive or unlawfully obtained;
• The right to object, on reasonable grounds, to the processing of your information;
• The right to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent, subject to any legal or professional obligations preventing us from doing so; and
• The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Information Officer. Certain requests may be subject to the procedures set out in our PAIA Manual.

Retention of Information

We retain personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected, or as required by law. Legal practitioners are required to retain client files and accounting records for prescribed minimum periods, and we retain matter records accordingly, typically for at least five years after a matter is concluded, or longer where litigation, regulatory or statutory requirements apply. When information is no longer required, we securely destroy or de-identify it.

Security Safeguards

We maintain appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, damage, unauthorised access and unlawful processing. These measures include access controls, secure storage, confidentiality obligations binding on our staff, and encryption where appropriate. Where a security compromise affecting your personal information occurs, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as required by POPIA.

Sharing and Cross-Border Transfers

We do not sell your personal information. We may share it with trusted third parties who assist us in delivering our services, such as advocates, correspondent attorneys, the Deeds Office, sheriffs, financial institutions and IT service providers, all of whom are required to protect it. Should any transfer of personal information outside the Republic of South Africa become necessary, for example where a service provider hosts data abroad, we will ensure that the recipient is subject to laws, binding rules or agreements providing an adequate level of protection consistent with POPIA.

Cookies and Website Analytics

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to function correctly and to help us understand how visitors use it. Full details of the cookies we use, and how you can manage or disable them, are set out in our Cookie Policy.

Complaints to the Information Regulator

If you believe we have processed your personal information unlawfully, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa. You can find their contact details and complaint procedure at https://inforegulator.org.za. We ask that you first raise any concern with our Information Officer so that we may attempt to resolve it directly.

Contact and Information Officer

For any query relating to this Privacy Policy, to exercise your rights, or to reach our Information Officer, please contact us:

• Onah Attorneys Inc
• Unit 3 Benton House, Bond Business Park, Cnr Kent Ave & Bond Street, Ferndale, Randburg, Gauteng
• Telephone: 011 042 8039
• Email: info@onahattorneys.co.za

You can also reach us through our contact page. Your use of our website and services is also governed by our Terms & Conditions. We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, and the current version will always be available on this page.