1. What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files placed on your device (computer, smartphone or tablet) when you visit a website. They allow the website to recognise your device on future visits and remember certain information about your preferences or actions.
Cookies are not programmes and cannot carry viruses or install software. They simply store small amounts of data that help websites function correctly and provide a better user experience.
2. How We Use Cookies
We use cookies for the following purposes:
- Essential operation: To maintain your session and provide basic website security.
- Security: CSRF protection tokens stored in your session prevent cross-site request forgery attacks.
- Consent memory: To remember whether you have accepted or declined our cookie notice.
- Spam prevention: Google reCAPTCHA uses cookies/tokens to distinguish humans from bots.
- Analytics (if enabled): To understand how visitors use our site and improve our service.
We do not use cookies for advertising or to track your behaviour across other websites.
3. Cookies We Use
3.1 Essential Cookies
These cookies are strictly necessary for the website to function. They cannot be disabled without breaking site functionality.
| Cookie Name | Type | Purpose | Duration | Provider |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHPSESSID | Essential | PHP session management — maintains your session state and CSRF security token across page loads. | Session (deleted when browser closes) | marketafrica.co.za |
| ma_consent | Essential | Stores your cookie consent preference (accepted or declined) so we don't show the banner on every visit. | 365 days (accepted) / 30 days (declined) | marketafrica.co.za |
3.2 Third-Party Cookies — Google reCAPTCHA
We use Google reCAPTCHA v3 to protect our contact form from spam and bot submissions. reCAPTCHA analyses user behaviour on the page to generate a risk score and may set cookies on your device.
| Cookie Name | Type | Purpose | Duration | Provider |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| _GRECAPTCHA | Third-party | Bot and spam detection. Google uses this to distinguish between automated and human submissions on our contact form. | 6 months | Google LLC (google.com) |
| rc::a / rc::b / rc::c | Third-party | Google reCAPTCHA session management and challenge tokens. | Session / persistent | Google LLC (google.com) |
reCAPTCHA is governed by Google's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Google may process data in the United States and other countries outside South Africa.
3.3 Analytics Cookies (Optional)
If web analytics are enabled on this site in future (such as Google Analytics), we will update this policy and obtain your consent before placing any analytics cookies. Currently, no analytics cookies are set by default.
4. What We Do Not Do
- We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.
- We do not sell your cookie data to third parties.
- We do not use cookies to build profiles for targeted advertising.
- We do not use cross-site tracking technologies.
- We do not use fingerprinting or supercookies.
5. Your Cookie Consent
When you first visit our website, a cookie banner will appear asking for your consent to non-essential cookies (currently only Google reCAPTCHA when you interact with our contact form).
If you accept: All cookies described in this policy will be set as appropriate. Your preference is stored for 365 days.
If you decline: Only the essential PHPSESSID session cookie will be set for security purposes. The contact form may not function correctly as reCAPTCHA will not load. Your preference is stored for 30 days.
You may change your consent at any time by clearing your browser cookies (which will cause the consent banner to reappear on your next visit) or by contacting us.
6. How to Manage and Delete Cookies
You can control and delete cookies through your browser settings. Note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of this and other websites.
Browser cookie controls:
- Chrome: Settings → Privacy and security → Cookies and other site data
- Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data
- Safari: Preferences → Privacy → Manage Website Data
- Edge: Settings → Cookies and site permissions → Cookies and site data
- Opera: Settings → Privacy & security → Cookies
For more information about cookies and how to manage them, visit allaboutcookies.org.
7. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time as our use of cookies changes or to comply with updated legal requirements. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the most recent changes were made. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.
8. Contact Us
If you have any questions about our use of cookies, please contact our Information Officer via our contact form. For full details of how we process your personal information, please read our Privacy Policy.