Privacy Policy

Effective 3 October 2026

Who we are

beautyballot.africa is operated by Beauty Ballot (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2021/498875/07, South Africa. We are the responsible party for your personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). Our Information Officer is Ratile Mabitsela, who can be reached at entry@beautyballot.africa.

What we collect and why

  • Voters: your email address, the pageant and contestant you vote for, and the time of your vote, so we can apply the free daily vote limit, credit your votes and send confirmation.
  • Payments: your name, email, the amount, the currency and the payment reference. Card and bank details are entered directly with PayPal or Paystack and are never seen or stored by Beauty Ballot.
  • Pageant organisers: contact details, pageant information and the bank or mobile money details needed to pay you your share.
  • Contestants: the name, photos and profile information supplied by the organiser with the contestant’s consent, or a parent’s or guardian’s consent for anyone under 18.
  • Coaches: profile information you submit, and proof of police clearance where you offer services to anyone under 18.
  • Contact forms and WhatsApp: the details you send us, used only to respond to you.
  • Device and usage information: IP address, browser type and pages visited, used for security, fraud prevention and to improve the site.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only with service providers who help us run the platform, and only as far as they need it:

  • PayPal and Paystack, to process payments and refunds and prevent fraud;
  • our website host, email provider and database provider;
  • Google Analytics, for anonymised traffic statistics;
  • the organiser of the pageant you vote in, who sees vote totals and payment summaries; and
  • authorities, where the law requires it.

Some of these providers process information outside South Africa, including in the United States, the European Union and the countries where Paystack operates (Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt and Rwanda). We only use providers that are bound by data protection laws or agreements giving a level of protection similar to POPIA.

Cookies

We use cookies to keep the site working, remember your choices, measure traffic and prevent repeat voting abuse. You can manage non essential cookies through the cookie banner or your browser settings. Blocking some cookies may stop parts of the site, such as voting, from working.

How long we keep it

We keep vote and payment records for five years, as required for tax and financial records. Other information is kept only as long as needed for the purpose it was collected, then deleted or anonymised.

How we protect it

We use encrypted connections, access controls, security monitoring and licensed payment providers. If we become aware of a breach that affects your information, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.

Your rights

You may ask us to confirm what personal information we hold about you, to correct or delete it, or to stop using it for direct marketing. Email entry@beautyballot.africa. Some information may need to be kept for legal or financial reasons. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforegulator.org.za.

Children

We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18 without the consent of a parent or guardian. Teen contestants are listed only with that consent, obtained by the organiser.

Embedded content

Pages may include videos and posts from other websites, such as YouTube and Instagram. These behave as if you visited those sites directly and are covered by their own privacy policies.

Changes

We will post any changes to this policy here with a new effective date.

Contact

Beauty Ballot (Pty) Ltd
Email: entry@beautyballot.africa
Phone and WhatsApp: +27 71 918 9825