Terms and Conditions of Use

Loekaal is a digital event ecosystem and online marketplace that connects event organisers and consumers with venues, vendors, artists, performers and other event service providers across South Africa.

These Terms and Conditions of Use ("Terms") form a binding agreement between you and Loekaal. By accessing, browsing, registering for or otherwise using the Loekaal website, mobile application or any related service, you confirm that you have read, understood and agreed to be bound by these Terms.

If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use the Platform. If you use the Platform on behalf of a business or other juristic person, you warrant that you are duly authorised to bind that entity to these Terms.

• "Booking" means a confirmed engagement of a Business User's services, goods or venue arranged through the Platform, including any deposit or payment made in respect of it.

• "Business User" means any venue, vendor, artist, performer, supplier, contractor or other service provider that lists, advertises or offers goods or services on the Platform.

• "Consumer" means any User who uses the Platform to search for, enquire about or book goods or services, whether for private or business purposes, as contemplated in the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008.

• "Content" means any text, image, photograph, video, audio, listing, description, price, review, rating, message or other material submitted to, generated on or displayed through the Platform.

• "Loekaal Fee" means the commission, service fee or other charge payable to Loekaal in respect of a Booking or the use of the Platform, as disclosed through the Platform from time to time.

• "Platform" means the Loekaal website, mobile application, related interfaces, communication tools, AI features and all associated services.

• "User" means any person who accesses or uses the Platform, including Consumers, Business Users and visitors.

You must be at least 18 years old and have full legal capacity to contract in order to register an account. Accounts may not be registered on behalf of another person without that person's authority.

You must provide accurate, current and complete information when registering and must keep that information up to date. Business Users must provide truthful information about their business, trading name, contact details, service offering, licences and documentation.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity that takes place under your account. You must notify Loekaal immediately of any unauthorised access or suspected compromise of your account.

Loekaal may verify the identity, documentation, business registration, qualifications, banking details and online presence of any User, and may request further information at any time.

Loekaal may refuse, restrict, suspend or terminate any account where it reasonably suspects fraud, misrepresentation, impersonation, unlawful conduct or a breach of these Terms.

Loekaal provides a technology platform that facilitates discovery, communication, booking and payment between Users. Loekaal is not the supplier, seller, employer, agent or organiser of the goods, services, venues or performances listed on the Platform, unless expressly stated otherwise in writing.

Any contract for the supply of goods or services arising from a Booking is concluded directly between the Consumer and the relevant Business User. Loekaal is not a party to that contract.

Each Business User is solely responsible for the accuracy of its listings, its pricing, its availability, the quality, safety and legality of the goods or services it supplies, the holding of all required licences, permits, certificates and insurance, the performance of its obligations to Consumers, and its compliance with all applicable law, including health, safety, liquor, labour and tax legislation.

Loekaal does not guarantee the availability, quality, suitability or lawfulness of any listing, nor the conduct of any User.

An enquiry, quote request, message or expression of interest does not constitute a Booking and creates no obligation on any party.

A Booking becomes binding once the relevant Business User has accepted it and the applicable payment or deposit has been made through the Platform, or as otherwise confirmed through the Platform.

Business Users must honour all confirmed Bookings and must attend, supply and perform in accordance with the terms of the Booking. Repeated cancellation, non-attendance or non-performance may result in warnings, restriction, suspension or termination.

Users must not provide false, misleading or incomplete information in relation to a Booking, including in respect of dates, times, addresses, guest numbers, pricing, capabilities or qualifications.

All applicable fees, commissions, deposits and charges are disclosed through the Platform before you complete a transaction. By proceeding, you accept those amounts.

Cancellation, refund and rescheduling arrangements applicable to a Booking are those disclosed through the Platform at the time of the Booking, read together with your rights under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 where applicable.

The Platform's messaging and communication tools are provided for legitimate purposes connected to enquiries, Bookings and their fulfilment.

You must not use the Platform to send spam, bulk unsolicited marketing, chain messages or repeated unwanted contact; to impersonate any person, business or Loekaal itself; to harass, threaten, defame, intimidate or abuse any person; or to distribute malware, phishing links or fraudulent payment instructions.

Messages sent through the Platform may be subject to automated and AI-assisted moderation for the limited purposes described in these Terms and in the Privacy Policy.

Where Users are first introduced or connected to one another through the Platform, they may not move that transaction, or any directly related transaction, off the Platform in order to avoid, reduce or evade the Loekaal Fee.

This includes, without limitation, arranging or concluding the Booking by WhatsApp, SMS, email, telephone, social media, another marketplace or booking platform, or any in-person arrangement made for the purpose of avoiding the Loekaal Fee.

Users may not publish, share or solicit personal or business contact details for that purpose, whether in listings, profile fields, images, photographs, captions, reviews or chat messages, and whether shared openly, in disguised form (for example, spelling out digits, using spacing or substituted characters) or by means of a QR code, link or third-party handle.

Legitimate exceptions apply. Once a Booking is confirmed, Users may exchange the contact details reasonably required to fulfil that Booking, such as an on-the-day contact number, delivery or venue address or arrival instructions. Users who have a genuine pre-existing relationship that did not originate on the Platform may continue to deal with each other directly, provided that the relationship is disclosed to Loekaal on request.

Where Loekaal reasonably determines that circumvention has occurred or has been attempted, it may issue a warning, restrict Platform features, suspend or terminate the account, and recover the Loekaal Fee that would have been payable, together with any costs reasonably incurred in recovering it.

The Platform offers AI-assisted features, including a planning assistant, recommendation tools, listing and profile drafting aids and moderation systems.

AI output is provided as assistance only. It may be incomplete, outdated or incorrect. You must independently verify any AI-generated recommendation, description, price, availability or other statement before relying on it.

You must not use the AI features to generate unlawful, misleading, defamatory, discriminatory or harmful content; to impersonate any person; to manipulate rankings, reviews or moderation systems; or to attempt to extract data about other Users or to reverse-engineer the Platform.

Business Users remain fully responsible for all AI-assisted Content published under their profile, exactly as if they had written it themselves, including its accuracy and its compliance with law.

Personal information processed by AI features is handled in accordance with the Privacy Policy.

Loekaal processes personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA") and the Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

By using the Platform, you acknowledge the collection, use, storage and sharing of your personal information as described in the Privacy Policy.

Business Users who receive personal information about Consumers through the Platform must use it only for the purpose of fulfilling the relevant Booking and must comply with POPIA in their own right.

You retain ownership of the Content you submit to the Platform.

By submitting Content, you grant Loekaal a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt for formatting purposes, publish, display and distribute that Content for the purposes of operating, marketing and improving the Platform. This licence continues for as long as the Content remains on the Platform and for a reasonable period thereafter for backup and legal-compliance purposes.

You warrant that you own or are licensed to use all Content you submit and that it does not infringe the rights of any third party.

Prohibited Content includes content that is unlawful, fraudulent, misleading, defamatory, obscene, hateful, discriminatory, violent, infringing of intellectual property, in breach of another person's privacy, or that contains contact details shared in breach of the no-circumvention clause.

Reviews may only be submitted by Users who have genuine, first-hand experience of the relevant Booking.

You may not submit false, misleading, incentivised or malicious reviews, review your own business, arrange reciprocal reviews, or pressure, threaten or reward any person in exchange for a review or the removal of a review.

Loekaal may remove reviews that breach these Terms and may act against accounts involved in review manipulation.

The Loekaal Fee and any other charges are disclosed through the Platform before a transaction is completed.

Fees are payable in South African Rand and, where applicable, include or exclude value-added tax as indicated on the Platform.

Fees may not be avoided, deferred or reduced by circumventing the Platform as described in the no-circumvention clause.

Loekaal may change its pricing, fee structure or payout arrangements from time to time. Material changes will be communicated to affected Users through the Platform or by email with reasonable prior notice, and will apply to Bookings made after the effective date of the change.

The Loekaal name, logo, brand elements, software, design, database, layout and all other materials made available through the Platform are owned by or licensed to Loekaal and are protected by South African and international intellectual property law.

You may not copy, reproduce, scrape, mine, frame, resell, reverse-engineer or create derivative works from any part of the Platform without Loekaal's prior written consent.

You may not:

• breach any applicable law or regulation, or facilitate any unlawful activity;

• misrepresent your identity, business, licences, qualifications or affiliation;

• circumvent the Platform or the Loekaal Fee, or solicit others to do so;

• publish false, misleading or fraudulent listings, prices or availability;

• manipulate reviews, ratings, search rankings or recommendation systems;

• harvest, scrape or store the data or personal information of other Users;

• interfere with, overload, probe or attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Platform or its systems;

• upload malware, viruses or harmful code;

• use the Platform to harass, defraud, discriminate against or endanger any person; or

• use the Platform for any purpose other than that for which it is made available.

Loekaal may use automated systems, including AI-assisted tools, together with human review, to monitor listings, Content and Platform communications for spam, fraud, prohibited contact-detail sharing, circumvention, abuse and other breaches of these Terms.

Monitoring is purpose-limited and does not amount to general reading of private conversations. Loekaal is under no obligation to monitor all Content.

Loekaal may remove, edit, restrict or refuse to display any Content that it reasonably believes breaches these Terms or the law.

If your Content or account is actioned, you may request a review by contacting Loekaal using the details below. Loekaal will consider such requests in good faith and within a reasonable time.

You may close your account at any time. Closure does not affect Bookings already confirmed, amounts already owing or obligations that by their nature survive termination.

Loekaal may suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice depending on the seriousness of the conduct, where you breach these Terms, where Loekaal reasonably suspects fraud or unlawful conduct, where required by law, or where your conduct poses a risk to other Users or to the Platform.

Where an account is suspended or terminated, confirmed Bookings remain valid unless cancelled in accordance with the applicable arrangements, and amounts lawfully due to Loekaal remain payable.

The Platform relies on third-party services, including hosting, payment processing, communication, mapping and AI providers, and may contain links to third-party websites.

Loekaal does not control and is not responsible for third-party services or websites. Your use of them is subject to their own terms and privacy policies.

The Platform is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Loekaal does not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure or free of viruses, or that any Content, listing, recommendation or AI output is accurate, complete or current.

Loekaal gives no warranty in respect of the goods, services, venues or performances supplied by Business Users, nor as to the conduct, solvency, qualifications or suitability of any User.

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes any right that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded, including rights under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Loekaal, its directors, employees, contractors and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive or consequential loss, including loss of profit, revenue, goodwill, data or business opportunity, arising out of or in connection with your use of the Platform.

Loekaal's total aggregate liability to any User in respect of any claim or series of related claims will not exceed the total Loekaal Fees actually received by Loekaal from that User in the six months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

These limitations apply whether the claim is based in contract, delict, statute or otherwise, and do not apply to liability arising from Loekaal's gross negligence, wilful misconduct or fraud, or to any liability that may not lawfully be limited.

You indemnify and hold Loekaal harmless against all claims, demands, damages, losses, penalties, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal costs) arising from your use of the Platform, your Content, your breach of these Terms or of any law, or any dispute between you and another User.

Disputes about the supply, quality, timing, pricing or cancellation of goods or services are between the Consumer and the Business User concerned. Users must first attempt to resolve such disputes directly and in good faith.

Loekaal may, at its sole discretion and without assuming any obligation or liability, assist by providing Booking records, facilitating communication or applying any payment-protection arrangement disclosed on the Platform.

Nothing in this clause prevents a Consumer from approaching the National Consumer Commission or any other competent body or court.

Loekaal may amend these Terms from time to time. The current version is always available on the Platform and shows its effective date.

Material changes will be communicated through the Platform or by email with reasonable notice. Your continued use of the Platform after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the amended Terms.

These Terms are governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa.

You consent to the jurisdiction of the South African courts having competence in respect of any dispute arising from these Terms, including, where competent, the Magistrates' Court.

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid, unlawful or unenforceable, that provision is severable and the remaining provisions continue in full force and effect.

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any additional terms disclosed through the Platform for a specific feature or transaction, constitute the entire agreement between you and Loekaal in respect of the Platform and replace all prior representations, arrangements or understandings.

No relaxation or indulgence granted by Loekaal constitutes a waiver of any of its rights.

Questions about these Terms, requests for review of a moderation decision, or complaints may be sent to Loekaal using the contact details below or through the Contact page on the Platform.