Website Disclaimers in South Africa: What They Can and Cannot Do

The clause everyone has and nobody tests

Most South African websites carry a disclaimer somewhere. It is usually a paragraph in the footer, copied from another site, saying the owner accepts no liability for anything at all, ever, under any circumstances.

That paragraph does very little. Some of it is void by statute, some of it fails because of how it was presented, and the part that would actually have helped is often missing. Meanwhile the disclaimer that does the most work on a typical site costs nothing and takes one sentence.

This article covers what a disclaimer can achieve under South African law, what it cannot, and how to write one that is worth having.

Two different jobs, and only one of them works well

The word "disclaimer" covers two quite different things, and conflating them is why so many are useless.

The first job is qualifying information. A notice saying that content is general, is not advice for anyone's specific circumstances, and should not be relied on without professional input. This one is genuinely effective, because it goes to whether it was reasonable for the reader to rely on you in the first place.

The second job is excluding liability. A clause saying you are not responsible for loss the reader suffers. This is an exclusion clause, and in South Africa it runs straight into the Consumer Protection Act, which limits it heavily and voids parts of it outright.

A good disclaimer leans on the first job. A copied one usually attempts only the second, which is the half our law is least willing to enforce.

What the CPA will not let you exclude

If you supply goods or services to consumers in the ordinary course of business, the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 sets the outer limit of what any disclaimer can do.

Gross negligence cannot be excluded. Ever. Section 51(1)(c)(i) makes void any term that purports to limit or exempt a supplier from liability for loss directly or indirectly attributable to the gross negligence of the supplier or anyone acting for them. There is no drafting around this. A clause attempting it is not merely unenforceable in that instance, it is void.

Unfair terms are prohibited. Section 48 prohibits terms that are unfair, unreasonable or unjust, and a court may sever or rewrite them. A blanket exclusion of all liability whatsoever is a natural candidate.

Product liability survives disclaimers. Section 61 imposes liability for harm caused by unsafe or defective goods regardless of whether the supplier was negligent. It attaches down the whole supply chain, and a notice on your website does not switch it off.

Waiving consumer rights is void. Section 51 also voids terms purporting to waive or deprive a consumer of rights under the Act, or to avoid a supplier's obligations under it.

The practical consequence is that "we accept no liability for anything" is worse than useless. It is void in part, it invites a section 48 challenge on the rest, and it tells anyone reading carefully that nobody checked.

The notice rule almost nobody follows

Even a disclaimer that stays inside those limits can fail on presentation. Section 49 is the provision most often missed.

If a term limits your risk or liability, assumes a risk on the consumer's behalf, imposes an obligation to indemnify you, or is an acknowledgement of fact by the consumer, then it must be:

• written in plain and understandable language, and
• drawn to the consumer's attention in a conspicuous manner and form, before the consumer enters the transaction or begins to use the facility, and
• presented so the consumer has an adequate opportunity to receive and comprehend it.

A grey paragraph in a footer that nobody clicked is not conspicuous. If a disclaimer matters to you, it has to be visible at the moment it is relied on: at the point of purchase, at the top of the page it applies to, or on the screen where the customer commits.

There is a stricter version for risk. Where an activity carries a risk of an unusual character, or a risk of serious injury or death, the consumer must be specifically alerted to it and must indicate assent, typically by signing or ticking. This is why gyms, adventure operators and event organisers use separate signed indemnity forms rather than relying on a notice at the entrance. If your site sells anything with a physical risk attached, a website footer will not carry that weight.

Where disclaimers genuinely work

Now the useful half.

Where someone suffers pure economic loss after relying on information you published, a claim generally has to establish that your statement was wrongful and that their reliance on it was reasonable. A clear, prominent statement that the content is general information and not advice for their situation bears directly on both. It is not a magic formula and a court will look at the whole context, but it is the single most effective thing a content website can do.

This is why the sentence at the bottom of a well-written guide is not decoration. Saying that something is general guidance as at a date, is not advice, and that a specific situation deserves a professional opinion, is a substantive statement about what the reader may reasonably take from it.

Disclaimers also do ordinary useful work that has nothing to do with liability exclusion: stating that opinions are the author's own, that external links are not endorsements, that prices are subject to change, that results shown are not typical, or that the site is not affiliated with an organisation it discusses.

A disclaimer does not license a regulated activity

This is the misunderstanding that causes real damage. Several kinds of advice are regulated in South Africa, and a disclaimer does not create permission to give them.

• Financial advice is regulated under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act. Giving advice about financial products generally requires authorisation as a financial services provider or appointment as a representative. Adding "this is not financial advice" to a page that recommends specific investments does not change what you are actually doing.
• Health advice falls under the Health Professions Council of South Africa and its rules on practitioner conduct and advertising.
• Legal advice is regulated under the Legal Practice Act.
• Property work is regulated by the Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority.

A disclaimer is a statement about reliance. It is not a licence, and regulators look at the substance of what you provide rather than the label you attached to it. If your site is close to any of these lines, the disclaimer is not the thing to get right first.

Business customers are a different question

The CPA's limits protect consumers. It does not apply to every transaction.

Under section 5(2)(b), the Act does not apply where the consumer is a juristic person whose asset value or annual turnover equals or exceeds the threshold set by the Minister, which has been R2 million since 2011.

So an exclusion clause in an agreement with a large company is governed by ordinary contract law, where South African courts have historically been willing to enforce clearly worded exclusions, subject to public policy. The same clause aimed at an individual consumer or a small business below the threshold is constrained by sections 48, 49 and 51.

If you sell to both, one disclaimer written for everyone will be either too weak for your commercial contracts or void in your consumer ones.

The disclaimers a South African website usually needs

• General information. That content is general, not advice for a specific person, and should not be relied on without professional input.
• No warranty on accuracy. That you take reasonable care but do not guarantee that everything is current, complete or error free. Especially important where you write about law, tax or anything that changes.
• External links. That you do not control and do not endorse linked sites.
• Results and testimonials. That outcomes described are not a promise of similar results. Required in substance by the CPA's provisions on misleading representations, not just good practice.
• Professional relationship. That reading the site does not create a professional or advisory relationship.
• Availability. That the site may be unavailable or changed without notice.
• Limitation of liability, drafted to the CPA's limits rather than as a blanket exclusion, and presented in line with section 49.

Sector specific ones sit on top of these: earnings claims, health and fitness content, investment commentary, and user generated content each attract their own.

Where to put it

Placement is part of whether it works, not an afterthought.

• Keep a full disclaimer page, linked from the footer, as the complete statement.
• Put the short version where the risk actually arises: at the top or bottom of the article, next to the calculator, on the pricing page.
• For anything covered by section 49, surface it before the customer commits, not on a page they could only reach afterwards.
• Make sure it agrees with your terms and conditions and your refund policy. Contradictions between documents are read against the drafter.

Common mistakes

• Excluding all liability. Void as to gross negligence, vulnerable under section 48, and it weakens the clauses around it.
• Relying on a footer link. Fails the section 49 conspicuousness requirement for the terms that need it most.
• Copying a United States disclaimer. References to state law, the DMCA, or "as is" language written against the Uniform Commercial Code do nothing here.
• Treating it as a licence. A disclaimer does not authorise regulated advice.
• One disclaimer for consumers and businesses alike. The R2 million threshold means these are genuinely different drafting problems.
• Undated content with no accuracy disclaimer. If you write about anything that changes, say when it was written.
• Writing it to sound frightening. Section 22 requires plain and understandable language, and an aggressive disclaimer is more likely to be read against you than to protect you.

A short checklist

• Have you removed any wording that excludes liability for gross negligence?
• Does your disclaimer say clearly that content is general information rather than advice?
• Is any liability or indemnity term in plain language and shown before the customer commits?
• If you sell anything with physical risk, do you have proper signed assent rather than a notice?
• Do you disclaim accuracy on content that dates, and show when it was written?
• Do you have separate wording for business customers above the R2 million threshold?
• Does the disclaimer agree with your terms and your refund policy?
• Is it reachable from every page, and repeated where the risk actually arises?

POPIA Ready generates a disclaimer, terms of service, a refund policy and four other documents customised to your business and drafted for South African law, free to preview. The free checklist will show you what else your site is missing.

General guidance on South African law as at August 2026, not legal advice. Whether the Consumer Protection Act applies to a particular transaction depends on what is sold and to whom, and an exclusion clause that matters commercially deserves a professional opinion.