UMALI ("we", "our", "us") provides a digital platform connecting funeral homes, burial societies, and their members. This policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use it, and your rights under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
1. What We Collect
Depending on how you use UMALI, we may collect:
- Full name, South African ID number, phone number, and email address
- Membership and funeral cover details (society, plan, dependants and beneficiaries)
- Payment status and contribution history (whether a payment was made and when — not full card or bank details, which are handled directly by our payment partner, Ozow)
- Bank account details, only where a funeral home submits these directly to enable their own payment settlement with Ozow
- Claim records, including dates and status of a funeral claim
- Basic technical information (device type, general usage logs) to keep the platform secure and working correctly
2. How We Use It
- To register and manage your membership or funeral home account
- To track contributions and payment status
- To process and communicate updates on funeral claims
- To send automated reminders (for example, a contribution that is due or overdue)
- To keep the platform secure and to investigate and fix technical errors
3. Who We Share It With
UMALI does not sell personal information. We share only what is necessary with:
- Ozow — our licensed South African payment processing partner, to enable and verify payments. UMALI does not hold, control, or have signing authority over any funds at any point; each funeral home is verified and settled directly by Ozow in its own name.
- The specific funeral home or burial society you are a member of, so far as needed to manage your cover and claims.
We do not share your information with any other third party for marketing or advertising purposes.
4. How We Protect Your Information
Access to personal information on UMALI is restricted by role — a burial society administrator can only see their own members, and a funeral home can only see its own records. All data is stored securely, and access is controlled through authenticated logins and access rules enforced at the database level.
5. Information About Minors and Dependants
Funeral cover often includes spouses, children, and other dependants. Where a member adds a dependant's information (such as a child's name or ID number) for cover purposes, this is processed solely to administer that cover and process claims — never for any other purpose, and never used to contact or profile a minor directly.
6. Your Rights
Under POPIA, you have the right to:
- Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
- Ask us to correct inaccurate information
- Request that we delete your information, subject to any legal or contractual obligation to retain it (for example, active claims or cover records)
- Object to certain uses of your information
To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details below.
7. Data Retention
We retain personal information for as long as your membership, cover, or funeral home account is active, and for a reasonable period afterward as required for record-keeping, dispute resolution, or legal compliance.
8. Information Officer
Our appointed Information Officer for POPIA purposes is Ntombifikile Anna Tshabalala, Director, UMALI (PTY) LTD. Any privacy queries, complaints, or requests should be directed to the contact details below.
9. Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected on this page with an updated "last updated" date.
This policy was prepared as a working draft based on UMALI's current operations and is not a substitute for review by a qualified South African attorney. Given that UMALI processes ID numbers and information relating to funeral cover, we recommend formal legal review before wide public launch.