Terms of Use

Everything on Makhelwane is published by members. We do not check it before it appears, except that marketplace listings pass a light moderation review, which is a check against our Community Guidelines — not a check that a listing is accurate, genuine, lawful, safe or good value.

• You must be 18 or older and provide accurate information.
• One person, one account. Keep your password to yourself; you are responsible for what happens under your account.
• Tell us promptly at support@makhelwane.co.za if you think someone else has access to it.
• You may close your account at any time.

You deal with other members entirely at your own risk. Any sale, purchase, gift, swap, lift, service, payment or meeting you arrange through Makhelwane is a contract between you and that person. We are not the seller, buyer, carrier, employer, agent, broker, escrow, guarantor or insurer, and we take no commission on it.

Do your own research before you commit. Inspect goods in person. Verify claims, references, qualifications, licences and insurance yourself. Be cautious with deposits and electronic transfers, which are difficult to reverse. Meet in public places. The practical safety advice in Help forms part of these terms.

If a member sells goods or services in the ordinary course of business, they may be a “supplier” with obligations to you under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008. Those obligations are theirs, not ours. Any dispute about a transaction is between you and the other member; we are not obliged to mediate, and we cannot refund, reverse or recover anything you paid to another person.

An SOS post is a message to neighbours who happen to be online. It does not reach the police, an ambulance, a fire service, a security company or us, nobody is obliged to respond, and there is no guarantee anyone will see it. In an emergency call 10111, 10177, or 112 from a mobile. Never rely on Makhelwane where life, safety or property is at risk.

The Community Guidelines form part of these terms. In summary, you may not use Makhelwane to break the law, to harm or harass anyone, to defraud, to sell prohibited or stolen goods, to post hate speech or content that is harmful to children, to infringe anyone’s rights, to spam, to impersonate, or to interfere with the operation or security of the site.

You keep ownership of what you post. You give us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce and display it for the purpose of operating and promoting Makhelwane, and you confirm you have the right to post it. You are responsible for your content and may be held legally accountable for it.

We may remove, hide or restrict content, and suspend or close accounts, where we consider these terms or the Guidelines to have been broken, or where the law requires it. Where we hide a post we ordinarily leave a note in its place explaining that it was removed.

Tokens buy listing space from us. They have no cash value, are not transferable, and are not a deposit or currency. Tokens spent on a listing are used once the listing is published, and are not refundable if you delete the listing, if it is removed for breaking these terms or the Guidelines, or if a deal does not work out.

Where the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 gives you a right to cancel an electronic transaction within seven days, that right applies to your purchase of tokens from us and is not affected by this section.

We provide Makhelwane “as is” and “as available”. We do not promise it will be uninterrupted, error-free or secure, that content will be accurate, or that it will always be there. We may change, suspend or discontinue any part of it.

To the fullest extent permitted by South African law, and subject to section 10:

• We are not liable for any loss, damage, injury, death, cost or expense arising from your dealings with another member, including any transaction, arrangement, journey, service, meeting or payment.
• We are not liable for content posted by members, including content that is false, misleading, offensive, defamatory or unlawful.
• We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, loss of data, loss of opportunity or reputational harm.
• We are not liable for any failure or delay caused by something outside our reasonable control, including network, power or third-party service failure.
• Where we are nonetheless found liable, our total liability to you for all claims is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose, or R1 000, whichever is greater.

You indemnify us against claims brought by anyone else that arise from your content, your conduct on Makhelwane, or your dealings with another member.

South African law does not allow everything to be excluded, and we do not attempt to. Nothing in these terms limits our liability for personal injury or death caused by our gross negligence, for fraud or dishonesty, or for anything that section 51 of the Consumer Protection Act prohibits us from excluding. If a court finds any part of these terms unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.

You can report any discussion, reply or listing from the page it appears on, or email report@makhelwane.co.za. We review reports and act at our discretion.

Illegal activity is reported to the authorities and is not tolerated. Where we become aware of conduct that appears to break South African law we may remove the content, close the account, and report the matter to the South African Police Service or another competent authority, giving them the information we hold. Where an offence is committed in another country, we will co-operate with the authorities having jurisdiction. We comply with lawful requests for information.

Makhelwane relies on third parties for hosting, image storage and payments, and members may post links to other sites. We are not responsible for third-party services or the content of any site we link to.

We may update these terms. The date at the top reflects the current version, and we will notify you of material changes through the site. Continuing to use Makhelwane after a change means you accept it.

These terms are governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa, and you agree to the jurisdiction of the South African courts. Please write to support@makhelwane.co.za first — most complaints are resolved that way. Nothing here affects rights you have under the Consumer Protection Act, including any right to refer a dispute to the National Consumer Commission or an accredited ombud.

QUOTAMA (PTY) LTD, registration number 2023/781878/07, trading as Makhelwane, WeWork, 155 West Street, Sandown, Sandton, 2031, Gauteng, South Africa. Email support@makhelwane.co.za. These details are provided in accordance with section 43 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002.