Privacy Policy — Data Protection & Cookies

This website (valbutale.com) is operated by Valentine Kabo Butale (“Val Butale”, “I”, “we”), based in Gaborone, Botswana. For the purposes of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Botswana's Data Protection Act, 2018 (as administered by the Information and Data Protection Commission), I am the data controller responsible for personal information handled through this site.

Contact for any privacy matter: writing@valbutale.com.

• Enquiry details — the name, email address and message you choose to include when you use the contact form. The form opens your own email application; the message reaches me as an ordinary email and is not stored in a database on this site.
• Consent preference — a small entry stored in your browser recording your cookie choice, so the banner is not shown again.
• Technical logs — the hosting provider may record standard request data such as IP address, browser type and timestamps for security and reliability.

No special-category data, financial data or children's data is collected, and no profiling or automated decision-making is carried out.

• To reply to enquiries and discuss possible work — lawful basis: steps taken at your request prior to entering a contract, and legitimate interests.
• To keep the site secure and available — lawful basis: legitimate interests (Botswana Act: processing necessary for the controller's legitimate interests).
• For any optional analytics or non-essential cookies — lawful basis: your consent, which you may withdraw at any time.

Strictly necessary storage (your consent choice) is used without consent because the site cannot function correctly without it. Any optional analytics or measurement cookies are only set after you select “Accept all” in the consent banner. Choosing “Reject optional” leaves only essential storage in place.

To change your decision, clear this site's data in your browser settings; the consent banner will appear again on your next visit.

When you submit the contact form, the details you provide (name, organisation, email, phone number, service required and your message) are sent by email to me and a copy is emailed back to you as confirmation. This is used only to answer your enquiry — lawful basis: steps taken at your request before entering into a contract, and my legitimate interest in responding to business enquiries.

The form is protected by Google reCAPTCHA to prevent spam and abuse. reCAPTCHA collects hardware and software information, including your IP address and interaction data, and sends it to Google for analysis. Its use is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Lawful basis: legitimate interest in keeping the site secure.

Personal information is not sold or rented. It may be handled by service providers acting on my instructions — website hosting, email delivery and, where enabled, analytics. Because these providers may operate servers outside Botswana or the European Economic Area, such transfers rely on appropriate safeguards (for example standard contractual clauses) or the transfer conditions set out in Part IX of Botswana's Data Protection Act, 2018.

Enquiry emails are kept for as long as needed to respond and to maintain a record of the working relationship, and generally no longer than 24 months after our last contact unless a longer period is required by law. Your stored consent preference expires after 12 months.

Under the GDPR and Botswana's Data Protection Act, 2018 you may request access to your personal information, correction of inaccurate data, erasure, restriction of processing, objection to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing, data portability, and withdrawal of consent at any time without affecting prior processing.

To exercise any right, email writing@valbutale.com. Requests are answered within one month. If you are not satisfied, you may lodge a complaint with the Information and Data Protection Commission in Botswana or, in the EU or UK, with your local supervisory authority.

Reasonable technical and organisational measures are used to protect personal information, including encrypted connections (HTTPS), access control on accounts and minimal data collection. No online transmission can be guaranteed completely secure.

This policy may be updated to reflect changes in practice or law. The revised version takes effect once published on this page, with the date above updated accordingly.