This manual is published under section 51 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA). It explains how to ask for access to records held by Grid3D Community (“we”), the website at community.grid3d.co.za.
1. Who we are and how to contact us
- Private body: Grid3D, Aggeneys, Northern Cape, South Africa (the website is run by its owner).
- Head of the private body and Information Officer: Jacques Vermaak.
- Email: jacques@grid3d.co.za.
- Postal address: Aggeneys, Northern Cape. Our full postal address is available on request by email.
- Website: community.grid3d.co.za
2. The Information Regulator’s guide
The Information Regulator publishes a guide on how to use PAIA. You can get it from the Information Regulator: Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191; telephone 010 023 5200; website inforegulator.org.za.
3. Records available without a request
Anything published on the public parts of the site is available to anyone: the Rules, Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, this manual, public forum topics, replies and public profiles.
4. Records we hold
- Member account records: username, email address, display name and agreement to our terms.
- Member content: profile information, forum topics, replies, photos, activity updates, groups, friendships and private messages.
- Site administration records: moderation actions, security logs and backups.
- Correspondence sent to us by email or through the Contact page.
Access to some of these records may be refused on the grounds listed in PAIA, for example to protect another person’s privacy.
5. Records held under other laws
We keep records as needed by South African laws that apply to a website of this kind, such as the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act.
6. How we process personal information
- Purpose: to run member accounts and the community, send notification emails, keep the site safe and investigate abuse.
- People whose information we process: members, visitors and people who contact us.
- Information: as listed in our Privacy Policy.
- Who receives it: service providers needed to run the site (hosting and email, Dropbox for backups, Wordfence for security, Gravatar for profile pictures) and authorities where the law requires.
- Transfers outside South Africa: some of these providers are in the United States, as set out in the Privacy Policy.
- Security: access controls, a firewall and security scanning, regular backups, and limited administrator access.
7. How to request access to a record
- Use the prescribed request form (Form 2 under the PAIA regulations, available from the Information Regulator) or email us the same details.
- Give enough information to identify the record, who you are, which right you want to protect, and how you want to receive the answer.
- You may have to pay the request fee and any access fee set in the PAIA regulations. We will tell you the amount before we proceed.
- We will reply within 30 days. If we need more time the Act allows one extension of up to 30 days and we will tell you.
You can also ask to see, correct or delete your own personal information under POPIA. See the Privacy Policy.
8. Complaints
If you are unhappy with our response you can complain to the Information Regulator. See the contact details in section 2.
Last updated 31 October 2026.