IMPORTANT: THIS DATA ACCESS AND DATA USE AGREEMENT (“AGREEMENT”) IS A LEGALLY BINDING CONTRACT BETWEEN YOU (THE “DATA USER”) AND ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY (THE “MUNICIPALITY”). BY ACCESSING, DOWNLOADING, OR USING ANY DATA FROM THE DURBAN EDGE DATA PORTAL — WHETHER VIA THE WEB INTERFACE OR THE API — YOU CONFIRM THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT IN THEIR ENTIRETY. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, YOU MUST NOT ACCESS OR USE THE DATA.

1.  Parties

This Agreement is entered into between:

1.1  eThekwini Municipality

eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, a metropolitan municipality established in terms of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998, with its principal offices at 166 KE Masinga Road, Durban, 4001, KwaZulu-Natal, Republic of South Africa (“the Municipality”); and

1.2  The Data User

Any natural or juristic person who accesses or makes use of Data available through the Durban EDGE Data Portal, whether via the Portal’s web interface, API, bulk download facility, or any other data access mechanism (“the Data User”, “you”, or “your”).

2.  Definitions

In this Agreement, the following definitions apply in addition to those set out in the Terms of Use:

3.  Nature and Scope of Data Access

3.1  Data Available on the Portal

The Portal makes available a range of data sourced from eThekwini Municipality and contributing third parties, including but not limited to spatial data, demographic and socioeconomic data, municipal budget and expenditure data, infrastructure data, environmental data, and public service data.

3.2  Methods of Access

Data may be accessed via:

• The Portal’s web-based download interface;
• The Portal’s Application Programming Interface (API), subject to the API access conditions in clause 7 of this Agreement;
• Bulk data download, where available; and
• Any other access mechanism designated by the Municipality from time to time.

3.3  No Guarantee of Availability

The Municipality does not guarantee the continuous availability of the Portal or any specific dataset. The Municipality may update, modify, temporarily suspend, or permanently withdraw access to any dataset at any time and without prior notice. Data Users should not rely on the Portal as the sole or primary source of operational data for critical applications or decisions.

4.  Authorised Purposes

Data accessed through the Portal may be used only for Authorised Purposes, which include:

• Academic research, statistical analysis, and the production of research outputs;
• Journalism, public interest reporting, and civic accountability;
• Development of civic technology applications, tools, and visualisations for public benefit;
• Policy analysis and policy advocacy;
• Commercial and non-commercial application development, provided such applications do not misrepresent the Data or exploit vulnerable communities;
• Internal business analysis and decision-making, in accordance with applicable law; and
• Educational and training purposes.

Data may not be used for any purpose that is unlawful, that contravenes applicable law, that violates the rights of any person, or that is inconsistent with the overarching public interest objectives of the Portal.

5.  Mandatory Conditions of Data Use

All Data Users, whether accessing Data via the web interface, the API, or any other mechanism, agree unconditionally to the following conditions:

5.1  Attribution

You must attribute all Data to eThekwini Municipality in any publication, product, application, or work that incorporates or is derived from the Data. The required attribution format is:

“Source: eThekwini Municipality, Durban EDGE Data Portal, [Dataset Name], [Date of Access or Publication Date]. Available at: [Portal URL].”

Attribution must be displayed prominently and in a manner that is clearly visible to the end user of your product or publication.

5.2  Accuracy and Non-Misrepresentation

You must not use the Data in any manner that is false, misleading, deceptive, or defamatory. You must not represent the Data in a way that overstates its accuracy, currency, or completeness. You must clearly disclose any limitations, caveats, or uncertainties that are material to the correct understanding of the Data.

5.3  Disclosure of Modifications

Where you have modified, transformed, cleaned, aggregated, supplemented, or otherwise processed the Data, you must clearly state the nature and extent of such modifications in any publication, application, or output based on the modified Data. Modified datasets must be clearly distinguished from the original dataset obtained from the Portal.

5.4  Prohibition on Harmful Use

You must not use the Data to:

• facilitate or commit any unlawful act;
• harass, intimidate, surveil, profile, or discriminate against any person or community;
• enable or assist unauthorised profiling or re-identification of individuals from anonymised or de-identified datasets;
• undermine public confidence in government institutions through disinformation or wilful misrepresentation; or
• engage in any activity that eThekwini Municipality, in its sole discretion, considers contrary to the public interest.

5.5  Data Protection and Privacy Compliance

Where any Data contains or could reasonably relate to Personal Information, you:

• must process such Personal Information in strict compliance with POPIA, including obtaining any required consents and implementing appropriate security safeguards;
• are an independent Responsible Party in respect of any Personal Information you process from the Data, and eThekwini Municipality is not liable for your compliance failures;
• must not attempt to re-identify individuals from any dataset that has been anonymised or de-identified;
• must implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to prevent unauthorised access to any Personal Information extracted from the Portal;
• must notify eThekwini Municipality promptly, and in any event within 48 hours, if you become aware of any actual or suspected breach of security involving Personal Information sourced from the Portal, at [email protected].

5.6  No Endorsement

You must not, in any form or medium, represent or imply that eThekwini Municipality endorses, sponsors, approves, or is affiliated with your organisation, product, service, analysis, publication, or findings. Any reference to eThekwini Municipality as a data source must be factual, accurate, and clearly framed as an attribution only.

5.7  No Commercial Exploitation of the Portal

You must not use the Data or the Portal to commercialise access to the Portal itself, to provide data brokerage services using Data obtained from the Portal, or to circumvent any applicable licensing arrangements. You may, however, develop commercial applications, products, and services that are built upon or incorporate the Data, subject to the conditions of this Agreement and any applicable Open Data Licence.

5.8  Compliance with Third-Party Licences

Where specific datasets on the Portal are published under a designated Open Data Licence (such as a Creative Commons licence), the terms of that licence govern your use of that dataset in addition to the terms of this Agreement. In the event of any conflict between this Agreement and an applicable Open Data Licence in relation to the licensed Data, the Open Data Licence shall prevail in respect of that Data.

5.9  Record-Keeping

The Municipality reserves the right to request, and you agree to maintain and provide upon request, a Data Use Record describing the datasets you have accessed, the purposes for which they have been used, and any Derived Data produced. Such a record may be requested by the Municipality for monitoring, compliance, or auditing purposes.

6.  Intellectual Property Rights

Subject to clause 5.8 and any applicable Open Data Licence:

• All Intellectual Property Rights in the Municipal Data remain vested in eThekwini Municipality. This Agreement grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the Data solely in accordance with the Authorised Purposes and the conditions of this Agreement.
• All Intellectual Property Rights in Third-Party Data remain vested in the contributing third party. Your use of Third-Party Data is subject to the licence terms imposed by the contributing third party, as disclosed on the Portal.
• Intellectual Property Rights in Derived Data, applications, analyses, and work products that you independently create using the Data vest in you, subject to the limitations set out in this Agreement and any applicable Open Data Licence. eThekwini Municipality makes no claim to any such Intellectual Property Rights unless the relevant work was commissioned by or on behalf of eThekwini Municipality.

7.  API Access Conditions

Access to the Portal’s API is subject to the following additional conditions:

7.1  Registration and API Key

To access the Portal’s API, you must register for an account on the Portal and be issued a unique API Key. Your API Key is personal and non-transferable. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your API Key and for all activities that occur under your API Key. You must immediately notify the Municipality at [email protected] if you become aware of any unauthorised use of your API Key or any other breach of security.

7.2  Acceptable Use of the API

You agree that you will not:

• share, publish, sell, or transfer your API Key to any third party;
• use the API to generate an excessive volume of requests that unreasonably burden the Portal’s infrastructure or degrade service for other users;
• attempt to access any data or endpoint to which you have not been granted explicit authorisation;
• use the API for any purpose not constituting an Authorised Purpose;
• attempt to circumvent, disable, or interfere with any security, rate-limiting, or access-control feature of the API; or
• use the API in any way that violates any applicable law.

7.3  Rate Limiting

The Municipality may impose rate limits on API calls at any time. Rate limits will be communicated through the Portal’s API documentation. Repeated or persistent violations of rate limits may result in the temporary or permanent suspension of your API Key without prior notice.

7.4  API Versioning and Changes

The Municipality may update, modify, deprecate, or discontinue any API endpoint or version at any time. The Municipality will endeavour to provide reasonable advance notice of significant API changes via the Portal’s developer documentation, but accepts no liability for any disruption caused by changes to the API.

7.5  API Security Obligations

You are responsible for ensuring that your application or system that integrates with the API is secure and does not expose the API Key or any Data obtained via the API to unauthorised access. You must implement appropriate security measures in any application you develop that uses the API, including measures to protect any Personal Information retrieved via the API.

8.  Disclaimers and Exclusion of Liability

8.1  Data Quality Disclaimer

The Data is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. eThekwini Municipality makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, currency, reliability, fitness for any particular purpose, or freedom from error of the Data. eThekwini Municipality expressly disclaims all liability for any reliance placed by you on the Data or any Derived Data.

8.2  Third-Party Data

eThekwini Municipality does not verify, endorse, or warrant the accuracy or reliability of Third-Party Data published on the Portal. Your use of Third-Party Data is entirely at your own risk.

8.3  Exclusion of Consequential Loss

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable South African law, eThekwini Municipality excludes all liability for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive loss or damage arising from your use of or reliance on the Data or the Portal, including but not limited to loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of data, loss of business opportunity, or loss of anticipated savings, whether arising in contract, delict, or otherwise.

8.4  No Liability for Downstream Use

eThekwini Municipality accepts no liability for any loss, damage, or harm arising from the downstream use or application of the Data or any Derived Data by you or any third party to whom you make the Data or Derived Data available.

9.  Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless eThekwini Municipality and its political office-bearers, officials, employees, agents, and service providers against any claim, demand, action, loss, damage, liability, cost, or expense (including reasonable attorney’s fees) arising out of or in connection with:

• your breach of any term of this Agreement;
• your use of the Data or the API;
• your violation of any applicable law, including POPIA;
• any Derived Data that you produce, publish, or distribute;
• any infringement by you of any Intellectual Property Right or privacy right of any third party; or
• any claim by a third party arising from their use of a product or service that you developed using the Data.

10.  Suspension and Termination

10.1  Termination by the Municipality

The Municipality may, without prior notice, immediately suspend or terminate your access to the Portal, the API, and any Data, and revoke your API Key, in the event of:

• any actual or suspected breach of this Agreement;
• any actual or suspected breach of applicable law;
• any use of the Data that the Municipality reasonably considers harmful, unlawful, or contrary to the public interest;
• persistent or deliberate violation of API rate limits or access controls;
• any actual or suspected compromise of your API Key;
• a court or regulatory order requiring suspension or termination; or
• operational, security, or other legitimate grounds determined by the Municipality.

10.2  Effect of Termination

Upon termination: your licence to use the Data is immediately revoked; you must cease all use of the Data and Derived Data obtained in breach of this Agreement; you must, upon request, destroy or return any Data held in breach of this Agreement; and the following clauses shall survive termination: 5.5, 6, 8, 9, 11, and 12.

11.  Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa, including POPIA, PAIA, ECTA, and all other applicable national and provincial legislation. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with this Agreement, including any dispute as to its existence, validity, interpretation, or termination, shall be resolved, as a first step, through good-faith negotiation between the parties. Should the parties fail to resolve any dispute through negotiation within thirty (30) calendar days, either party may refer the dispute to mediation administered by a mutually agreed mediator. Should mediation fail, the dispute shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court of South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal Division, Durban. Nothing in this clause prevents the Municipality from seeking urgent relief in any competent court.

12.  General Provisions

12.1  Entire Agreement

This Agreement, together with the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy of the Portal, and any applicable Open Data Licence, constitutes the entire agreement between the parties relating to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior representations, understandings, agreements, and negotiations relating thereto.

12.2  Amendments

The Municipality reserves the right to amend this Agreement at any time. Amendments will take effect upon publication on the Portal. Your continued use of the Data or the API after the effective date of any amendment constitutes your acceptance of the amended Agreement.

12.3  Severability

If any provision of this Agreement is found by a competent court to be invalid, unlawful, or unenforceable, such provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, and all remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

12.4  Waiver

No failure or delay by the Municipality in exercising any right under this Agreement shall constitute a waiver of that or any other right. A waiver must be in writing to be effective.

12.5  Relationship of Parties

Nothing in this Agreement shall create or imply any partnership, joint venture, agency, employment, or trust relationship between the parties. Each party acts as an independent party.

12.6  Force Majeure

Neither party shall be liable for any failure or delay in performance under this Agreement to the extent caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of God, natural disasters, war, civil unrest, government action, cyberattacks by third parties, or infrastructure failures.

12.7  Assignment

You may not assign, transfer, novate, or sub-licence any of your rights or obligations under this Agreement without the prior written consent of the Municipality. The Municipality may assign its rights and obligations under this Agreement to any successor entity, transferee of its functions, or affiliated government entity without your consent.

12.8  Language

This Agreement is in the English language. In the event of any translation, the English version shall prevail.

13.  Contact Information and Notices

All notices, requests, or communications under this Agreement shall be directed to:

• Information Officer, eThekwini Municipality
• Email: [email protected]
• Postal Address: 166 KE Masinga Road, Durban, 4001, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Notices sent by email to [email protected] shall be deemed received on the next business day following transmission, provided no delivery failure notification is received.

Acceptance and Acknowledgement

BY ACCESSING, DOWNLOADING, OR MAKING USE OF ANY DATA ON OR VIA THE DURBAN EDGE DATA PORTAL — WHETHER THROUGH THE WEB INTERFACE, THE API, OR ANY OTHER MECHANISM — YOU IRREVOCABLY CONFIRM THAT YOU HAVE READ AND FULLY UNDERSTOOD THIS AGREEMENT, THAT YOU HAVE THE LEGAL CAPACITY AND AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO THIS AGREEMENT ON YOUR OWN BEHALF OR ON BEHALF OF THE ORGANISATION YOU REPRESENT, AND THAT YOU AGREE TO BE LEGALLY BOUND BY ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET FORTH HEREIN.

This Data Access and Data Use Agreement is issued for and on behalf of eThekwini Municipality and forms part of the Durban EDGE Data Portal’s suite of governance documents. It must be read together with the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy. Version 1.0 — Effective Date:  June 2026.