WEBSITE TERMS OF USE — KRESHE.CO.ZA

Important. These Terms govern your use of our website. If you are a paying crèche customer, your contractual relationship with us is governed by the Master Services Agreement and Operator Agreement signed at onboarding (“MSA”). Where these Terms and the MSA conflict, the MSA prevails for that customer.

1. STATUTORY DISCLOSURES (ECTA SECTION 43)

In accordance with section 43(1) of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 (“ECTA”), the following information is provided:

2. ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS

By accessing or using kreshe.co.za, you accept these Terms in full. If you do not accept them, you must stop using the site.

We may change these Terms from time to time. The version in force at the time you use the site is the version published at https://kreshe.co.za/legal/terms. Material changes will be flagged on the site and, where appropriate, communicated to existing customers by email.

3. WHO MAY USE THE SITE

You may use the site if you are:

(a) at least 18 years of age, or under 18 with the consent of a parent or legal guardian;

(b) acting in your own capacity, or with authority on behalf of a crèche or other organisation; and

(c) using the site for lawful purposes consistent with these Terms.

4. ACCOUNTS AND ACCESS

Some features of the Kreshe platform require you to register an account. When you register, you agree:

(a) to provide accurate, current and complete information;

(b) to keep your account credentials confidential and not share them;

(c) to notify us immediately at info-officer@kopanongplatforms.co.za if you suspect unauthorised access; and

(d) to be responsible for all activity under your account, except where you have notified us of unauthorised access.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that we reasonably believe are being used in breach of these Terms or in a manner that threatens the integrity of the platform.

5. PROHIBITED USE

You must not:

(a) use the site or platform for any unlawful purpose, or in contravention of POPIA, the Children’s Act 38 of 2005, the Cybercrimes Act 19 of 2020, or any other applicable law;

(b) attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the site, the platform, our infrastructure or any other user’s account;

(c) introduce any virus, worm, trojan, ransomware, or other malicious code;

(d) reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble or attempt to derive the source code of the site or platform, except to the extent expressly permitted by law;

(e) scrape, harvest or extract data from the site by automated means, except where expressly authorised in writing or via a documented API;

(f) use the site or platform to send spam, conduct phishing or distribute fraudulent communications;

(g) misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person or organisation;

(h) upload or process personal information in a manner that contravenes POPIA, your privacy notices, or the consents you have obtained from your data subjects;

(i) use the site or platform in a way that infringes our or any third party’s intellectual property, privacy or other rights; or

(j) use the platform to operate any business other than a registered Early Childhood Development centre, save with our prior written consent.

6. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

6.1 Our intellectual property

The Kreshe brand, the Kopanong brand, the platform’s source code, design, layout, graphics, logos, copy, documentation, and the selection and arrangement of content on the site, are owned by, or licensed to, Kopanong and protected under the Copyright Act 98 of 1978, the Trade Marks Act 194 of 1993 and other applicable laws.

You are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to access and use the site for the purposes for which it is made available, in accordance with these Terms. No other rights are granted.

6.2 Your content

You retain ownership of any content you upload to the platform (including data captured by your crèche about children, parents, practitioners and other users — though see the Privacy Policy on the roles of Responsible Party and Operator).

You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to host, store, transmit, display, reproduce, adapt and create derivative works of your content, only to the extent necessary to provide the platform and the related services to you.

You warrant that:

(a) you have the right to upload and process the content;

(b) your content does not infringe any third party’s rights;

(c) you have obtained all necessary consents (including parental consent under POPIA section 35 for children’s information); and

(d) you will indemnify us for any claim arising from a breach of these warranties.

7. PAID SUBSCRIPTIONS

If you subscribe to the paid Kreshe service, your subscription is governed by the Master Services Agreement and the Operator Agreement that we sign with you at onboarding, together with the pricing schedule in force at the time. Those documents prevail over these Terms in respect of the paid relationship.

The general points to note:

• subscription fees are stated exclusive of VAT;
• billing is monthly in advance, by debit order or other agreed method;
• fees scale by enrolled-child count, subject to tier minimums;
• a notice period applies for cancellation, set out in the MSA.

8. THIRD-PARTY SERVICES AND LINKS

The platform integrates with third-party services for cloud hosting, database and infrastructure, email and customer communications, customer support tooling, payment integration and similar functions. Where applicable, your use of those services is governed by the third party’s own terms and privacy notices. Where we receive personal information from those services, or send personal information to them, we do so in accordance with our Privacy Policy and the relevant data-processing agreements. The current list of named sub-operators is available on request to the Information Officer at info-officer@kopanongplatforms.co.za.

The site may contain links to external websites. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content, terms or privacy practices.

9. AVAILABILITY AND CHANGES TO THE PLATFORM

We aim to keep the site and platform available, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted availability. We may:

(a) suspend the site or platform for planned maintenance, with reasonable notice where practicable;

(b) suspend or restrict access in response to a security incident, threat or material breach of these Terms;

(c) modify, replace or discontinue features over time, in line with our product roadmap, with appropriate notice for paying customers under the MSA.

10. DISCLAIMERS

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

(a) the site and platform are provided “as is” and “as available”;

(b) save where these Terms or the MSA expressly say otherwise, and save where the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 imposes non-excludable warranties, we do not warrant that the site or platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure against every threat, free of every bug, or fit for any specific purpose beyond that for which it is supplied;

(c) we are not a substitute for professional advice. The Kreshe platform supports administrative compliance with ECD norms and standards, but it does not constitute legal, regulatory, medical or educational advice. The crèche remains responsible for its own regulatory compliance with the Department of Basic Education and other relevant authorities.

These disclaimers do not limit the rights of consumers under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 in respect of services that attract those protections.

11. LIABILITY

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

(a) we are not liable for any indirect, special, incidental, consequential, punitive or exemplary loss or damage, including loss of profit, loss of business, loss of goodwill, loss of data, or loss of opportunity, however arising;

(b) our total aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with your use of the site (or, in the case of a paying customer, any twelve-month period under the MSA) is limited to the greater of (i) the fees paid by you to us in the twelve months preceding the claim, or (ii) ZAR 10,000;

(c) nothing in these Terms limits any liability that cannot be limited by law, including liability for fraud, gross negligence or wilful misconduct, or liability under POPIA where it cannot lawfully be excluded.

12. INDEMNITY

You will indemnify us, our directors, employees and contractors, against any claim, loss, damage, cost or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from:

(a) your breach of these Terms;

(b) your unlawful processing of personal information through the platform;

(c) infringement by your content of any third party’s intellectual property, privacy or other rights;

(d) your fraudulent or unlawful conduct.

13. PRIVACY

Our collection and use of personal information is governed by the Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

14. SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION

We may suspend or terminate your access to the site:

(a) immediately, where we reasonably believe you are in material breach of these Terms or the MSA, or where required by law or by a regulator;

(b) on reasonable notice, in our discretion, where you are not a paying customer;

(c) for paying customers, in accordance with the termination provisions of the MSA.

On termination, the licences granted in section 6.1 cease, but sections 6.2 (your content), 10 (disclaimers), 11 (liability), 12 (indemnity), 16 (governing law) and 17 (dispute resolution) survive.

15. NOTICES

Notices to us must be in writing and sent to legal@kopanongplatforms.co.za, with a copy posted to our registered office.

Notices from us to you may be sent by email to the address in your account, by posting on the site, or by post to your last-notified postal address.

16. GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. The courts of South Africa have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute, save that we may bring proceedings to enforce intellectual property rights or to protect confidential information in any court of competent jurisdiction.

17. DISPUTE RESOLUTION

The parties will use reasonable endeavours to resolve any dispute arising under or in connection with these Terms by negotiation in good faith.

Where a dispute cannot be resolved by negotiation within 30 days, the dispute will be referred to mediation under the Rules for the Conduct of Mediations of the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (“AFSA”), conducted by a mediator appointed by AFSA.

Failing resolution by mediation within a further 30 days, the dispute will be submitted to binding arbitration governed by the Arbitration Act 42 of 1965 (or its replacement), conducted in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules of AFSA, by a single arbitrator agreed between the parties or, failing agreement, appointed by AFSA. The arbitration will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, and conducted in English. The arbitrator’s award will be final and binding, and judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Nothing in this section limits a party’s right to seek urgent interim relief in a court of competent jurisdiction pending the mediation or arbitration outcome.

18. CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT QUALIFICATION

If these Terms, or any contract governed by these Terms, are regulated by or subject to the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (“CPA”), it is not intended that any provision of these Terms contravene any provision of the CPA. Accordingly, all provisions of these Terms must be read as being qualified, to the extent necessary, to ensure that the provisions of the CPA are duly complied with. Where any provision of these Terms is inconsistent with the CPA, the CPA prevails to the extent of the inconsistency, and that provision will be deemed to be modified to the minimum extent necessary to remove the inconsistency, with the rest of these Terms remaining in full force.

19. GENERAL

(a) Entire agreement. These Terms, read together with the Privacy Policy, the PAIA Manual and (where applicable) the MSA, constitute the entire agreement between you and Kopanong with respect to your use of the Website, the Service and the Content, and supersede all previous understandings, representations or arrangements between the parties on that subject matter.

(b) No waiver. A failure or delay in exercising a right is not a waiver of that right.

(c) Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force, and the unenforceable provision will be deemed modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, preserving its intent.

(d) Cession. You may not cede, assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may cede our rights to a successor entity in the event of a sale, merger or restructuring.

(e) No agency or partnership. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, employment or agency relationship.

(f) Force majeure. Neither party is liable for failure or delay caused by events beyond its reasonable control (including internet outages, regulatory action, natural disasters, civil unrest), provided that the affected party uses reasonable efforts to mitigate.

20. QUESTIONS

End of Terms of Use.