Data deletion

1. How to ask for deletion

1. Email help@bolulo.co.za from the address on your Bolulo account or application, with the subject “Data deletion request”. Include your full name, the email address and WhatsApp number you used, and the accommodation provider concerned. Say whether you want everything deleted or only certain information.
2. Alternatively, ask your accommodation provider’s office, which can start the removal inside the platform.

Please do not send ID documents or passwords by email.

To stop WhatsApp messages only, reply STOP to any message. This takes effect immediately and needs no verification. Email notifications are not affected.

2. What happens next

Sending a request is not the same as deletion. We first confirm who you are using the contact details on file. Because the accommodation provider is usually responsible for your records, we involve it where it must decide about records it has to keep. Nothing is deleted until your identity is confirmed, and we tell you by email once the work is complete.

3. What can be removed

Your profile and contact details, sign-in credentials and sessions, and the application messages, notes and requests linked to you can be removed or anonymised. WhatsApp message logs are deleted automatically after 90 days.

4. What may be kept

• Lease and financial records, and safety or incident records, that we or the provider are entitled or required to keep. These may retain basic identifying details such as your name.
• WhatsApp consent evidence and the do-not-message register, so we can prove consent and avoid messaging a number that opted out.
• Security and audit logs.
• Backups held by our database provider, until they expire.

5. Information held by WhatsApp and Meta

We cannot delete your chat history on your phone or information Meta holds under its own policies. You can delete the chat or block the sender in WhatsApp, and use Meta’s privacy tools. More detail is in our Privacy Policy.

6. If you are not satisfied

You can complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa) at inforegulator.org.za or enquiries@inforegulator.org.za.