Community Guidelines

• Be straight with people. Describe things honestly, and honour what you agree.
• Disagree without contempt. Argue about the point, not the person.
• Respect privacy — yours and everyone else's.
• Keep it legal. What is a crime in South Africa is a crime here.

Harassment and abuse.Threats, intimidation, bullying, stalking, pile-ons, or repeated unwanted contact after someone has asked you to stop. Publishing someone’s private information — home address, workplace, ID number, phone number, movements or photographs — without their consent.

Hate speech and discrimination. Content that advocates hatred based on race, ethnicity, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language, birth or HIV status, or that incites harm. This is prohibited by section 16(2) of the Constitution, the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000, and the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Act.

Content that harms children. Any sexual content involving a child, grooming, or content that sexualises a minor. This is a serious criminal offence under the Films and Publications Act 65 of 1996 and the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007. We report it immediately and without exception.

Intimate images shared without consent. Publishing or threatening to publish an intimate image of an identifiable person without their consent is an offence under the Cybercrimes Act 19 of 2020 and the Films and Publications Act.

Incitement, violence and terror. Inciting violence or damage to property, threats of violence, or organising or glorifying it — including under sections 14 to 16 of the Cybercrimes Act.

Fraud and scams.Misrepresenting what you are selling, advance-fee and “pay first” schemes, fake listings, phishing, pyramid or Ponzi schemes, counterfeit goods, or anything designed to separate a neighbour from their money dishonestly.

Illegal or restricted goods and services. Drugs and drug paraphernalia; firearms, ammunition and explosives; stolen property; poached wildlife or protected species; human tissue; forged documents; prescription medicines; tobacco or alcohol sold outside the law; sexual services; and anything else whose sale requires a licence you do not hold.

Infringing other people’s rights. Posting work, images, music or trademarks that are not yours to post, or defaming someone — that is, publishing something false that damages their reputation.

Spam and manipulation. Repetitive posting, unrelated advertising, bots, scraping, multiple accounts used to mislead, fake reviews, or vote and rating manipulation.

Impersonation. Pretending to be another person, a business, a moderator, an official body or an emergency service.

Attacks on the platform.Attempting to gain unauthorised access to accounts, data or systems, or interfering with the site’s operation. This is an offence under the Cybercrimes Act.

Use SOS for genuinely urgent neighbourhood matters. Do not raise false alarms, and do not use it for advertising or arguments. Take particular care before naming or describing a person you suspect of something: a false accusation can be defamatory, and vigilante action is itself a crime. Report crime to the police.

• Describe items honestly, including faults, and use your own photographs.
• State a clear price, and do not advertise something you cannot supply.
• Only list what you own and are lawfully entitled to sell.
• Honour what you agree, and tell the other person promptly if plans change.
• Reviews must reflect a real dealing. Do not write reviews of your own listings or trade them with anyone.

Remember that Makhelwane is not a party to your deal and cannot refund or recover anything. The safety advice in Help is worth reading before you meet anyone.

Every discussion and reply has a Report link — say in a sentence what is wrong, because a moderator reads that reason. You can also email report@makhelwane.co.za.

Reporting is confidential: we do not tell the other person who reported them. Please do not use reports to settle arguments — deliberately false reports are themselves a breach of these guidelines.

We respond in proportion to what happened and whether it has happened before. Depending on the case we may:

• leave the content and dismiss the report, if nothing was broken;
• hide the content, leaving a note in its place saying it was removed and why, so the conversation still makes sense;
• warn the account;
• suspend or permanently close the account;
• report the matter to the South African Police Service or another authority, and give them the information we hold.

Serious cases — anything involving a child, a credible threat of violence, or a non-consensual intimate image — skip the warning stage entirely: we remove, close and report.

If you believe we got it wrong, reply to us at support@makhelwane.co.za and a person will look at it again.

Makhelwane is a neighbourhood noticeboard, not a shield. Activity that breaks the law of South Africa — or of whichever country it is committed in — will be removed and reported to the authorities. We co-operate with lawful requests from the police and the courts, and we preserve and hand over the information we hold when required to do so. Using a pseudonym does not make you anonymous.