Privacy Policy

Last updated: 31 July 2026

1. Overview

PaneMba (Pvt) Ltd operates the PaneMba property marketplace for Zimbabwe. This policy describes how we handle personal information under the Cyber and Data Protection Act [Chapter 12:07] (Zimbabwe Data Protection Act).

2. Information We Collect

We collect only the minimum data needed to operate the marketplace:

• Account details: email, name, phone number — for account creation and communication.
• Listing content: property details, photos, price — for marketplace listings you choose to publish.
• Messages: chat threads and enquiries between users — for marketplace communication.
• Payment references: transaction IDs and receipts — for platform fee processing. Card numbers and mobile-money PINs are processed only by Pesepay; PaneMba does not store them.
• Identity verification (optional): if you choose to verify your identity, we process an image of your ID document and a selfie on your device for face matching. See section 5 below.
• Device information: device model, OS version, locale, timezone — for fraud prevention. No IMEI, MAC address, or advertising ID is collected.
• IP address hash: a non-reversible hash of your IP address — for security audit trails and rate limiting. The raw IP is not stored.
• Usage analytics: aggregated, non-identifying event data (screen views, search categories, result counts). Search queries are hashed; no precise GPS coordinates are logged.

Landlord contact details on gated listings are not shown publicly until a seeker unlocks contact via PaneMba Pass or is accepted through the rental application flow.

We do NOT collect: precise GPS location tracking, contacts/address book, biometric templates (face embeddings are computed on-device and never uploaded), financial account credentials, or advertising identifiers.

3. How We Use Your Information

• To create and manage your PaneMba account
• To display your listings and facilitate communication between tenants and landlords
• To process platform fee payments (listing fees, PaneMba Pass, agent subscriptions)
• To send notifications about your listings, applications, and messages
• To prevent fraud and abuse through device trust scoring
• To comply with legal obligations under Zimbabwean law

4. Third-Party Services and Cross-Border Transfer

We use Firebase (Google) for authentication, database, hosting, analytics, and push notifications. Your data is stored on Google Cloud servers in the United States (us-central1 region). By using PaneMba, you consent to this cross-border transfer of your personal data to the United States. Google complies with industry-standard security certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2) and encrypts data at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.2+).

Payment processing is handled by Pesepay. PaneMba does not store card numbers or mobile-money PINs.

We do not sell personal data to any third party.

5. Identity Verification and Biometric Data

If you choose to verify your identity (optional, not required to use the marketplace), the following processing occurs:

• On your device: Google ML Kit extracts text from your ID document (name, document type) and compares your selfie to the ID photo using on-device face matching. Face embeddings (mathematical representations of your face) are computed and discarded on your device — they are never uploaded to our servers.
• What we store: your name from the ID, the document type, a hashed reference to your ID number (not the raw number), boolean pass/fail results for face match and liveness, and the ID document and selfie images (temporarily, for admin review if auto-approval fails).
• What we do NOT store: your raw ID number, date of birth, face match score, liveness confidence, liveness challenge type, or face embeddings.
• Retention: ID document and selfie images are automatically deleted 90 days after submission. The boolean verification flag on your account is retained as a trust signal.
• Legal basis: your explicit consent, which you can withdraw at any time by contacting support.

6. Data Retention

• Account data: retained while your account is active. Deleted when you delete your account (see section 7).
• ID verification images: 90 days, then automatically purged from Firestore and Cloud Storage.
• Device fingerprints: 365 days from last activity, then automatically purged.
• Phone verification records: 365 days, then automatically purged.
• Payment receipts: retained for tax and audit compliance as required by Zimbabwean law.
• Analytics data: aggregated after 90 days; Firebase Analytics retains event data for up to 14 months.
• Security audit logs: IP hashes and action logs retained for security and fraud investigation.

7. Your Rights

Under the Zimbabwe Data Protection Act, you have the right to:

• Access: view your profile data in the app under Settings → Profile.
• Correction: edit your profile in the app at any time.
• Deletion: delete your account in Settings → Account → Delete my account, or email support@panemba.com. When you delete your account, we purge your user profile, ID verification images, device fingerprints, messages, enquiries, and saved searches from Firestore and Cloud Storage. We fulfil deletion requests within 30 days.
• Withdraw consent: for identity verification and analytics, you can withdraw consent by contacting support.
• Data portability: request a data export by emailing support.

8. Children's Privacy

PaneMba is for users 18 and older. We do not intentionally collect data from minors. Contact us if you believe a minor created an account.

9. Cookies and Tracking

We use essential cookies for authentication and session management. Firebase Analytics uses cookies to understand how users interact with the platform in aggregate. No advertising cookies are used. You can control cookies through your browser settings.

10. Security

Data is encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.2+). Access is enforced through Firestore security rules (owner-scoped access). Sensitive operations require App Check verification. No raw passwords or payment credentials are stored.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date.