Account & Data Deletion

You can ask us to delete your Tlhakiso Stokvel account and the personal information associated with it at any time. This page explains how to do it and what happens to your data.

How to request deletion

Option 1 — In the app

Open the app, go to your Account / Profile settings and choose Delete account. You will be asked to confirm. Your account and personal profile are then scheduled for deletion.

Option 2 — By email

Send an email to support@tlhakiso.co.za from the email address on your account, with the subject line “Delete my account”. To help us verify your request, please include the email address you use to sign in. We may contact you to confirm the request before we proceed.

What we delete

• Your account and sign-in credentials.
• Your personal profile information (your name, email and any phone number you provided).
• Your membership links to any stokvel, and personal documents you uploaded that are tied to you (for example, a death certificate you submitted for your own claim), unless we are legally required to keep them.

What may be retained

Tlhakiso Stokvel is a shared record for a whole group. Some information cannot simply disappear without harming the other members who rely on it:

• Group financial history. Records of the group's contributions, loans, payouts and claims may be retained by the stokvel for the group's own transparency, accounting and dispute-resolution needs. Where possible, entries relating to you are de-identified (for example, kept as a historical amount without your personal contact details).
• If you are the only chairperson of a group, we may ask you to transfer that role or remove the group first, so the group's other members are not locked out.
• Legal and backup copies. We may retain limited information where required by law, and residual copies may remain in secure backups until they are overwritten on our normal backup cycle.

If you want the entire group and all its records deleted (not only your personal data), the group's chairperson can request this and we will remove the group in full.

How long it takes

We action verified deletion requests within 30 days. Residual copies in encrypted backups are removed on our regular backup rotation, normally within a further 90 days.

Questions

If you need help with a deletion request, contact support@tlhakiso.co.za. See also our Privacy Policy.