PAIA Manual

Access to Information Manual

We respect your right of access to information. This manual will help you (the requester of information) to exercise that right and help you know how you may get access to our records. The Promotion to Access of Information Act 2 of 2000 as amended from time to time (known as PAIA¹) requires us to draft and make this PAIA manual available to you.

Know what types of information we have.
Know how to request access to it.

Date we last revised it: 26 November 2021

1. Introduction

We describe who we are and what we do on our website, or you can ask us for this information. PAIA² requires the information officer of a private body to compile a manual that contains information on the records it holds. A ‘private body’ means a natural person, company or other type of juristic entity that carries on any trade, business or profession and includes a political party. We are a private body.

2. Our details

Our organisation’s and information officer’s details are on our website or available on request.

3. Further guidance from the Information Regulator

For further guidance, contact the Information Regulator. They have compiled a PAIA guide³ in each official language of South Africa on how to exercise your rights under PAIA.

Visit their website	https://www.justice.gov.za/inforeg/index.html
Postal address	P.O Box 3153, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017
Physical address	JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001
Phone number	010 023 5200
Ask a general enquiry by email	[email protected]
Lodge a complaint by email	[email protected]

4. Records which we make automatically available

We make some records automatically available⁴ to you without you needing to request access to them.

Type of record	How you can access it
Memorandum of incorporation (MOI)	BizPortal⁵
Directors’ names	BizPortal
Documents of incorporation	BizPortal
Banking details	Request by email
Brochures	Request by email
External newsletters and circulars	Subscribing or on our website
Information on our website	Visit our website

5. Records we hold to function

We hold the following subjects and categories of records in electronic or physical format, which we do not make automatically available. You may request access to them. These are records that most organisations have.

Establishment records
Business records
Financial records
Insurance records
Tax records
Personal records
Agreements or contracts
Regulatory documents
Customer and supplier information

6. Records we hold to comply with the law

We hold records that all organisations are required by law to hold6. We also hold records that the law specifically requires organisations like ours to retain. Please ask our information officer for details.

7. How you can request access

We have appointed our information officer to deal with all matters relating to PAIA so we can comply with our PAIA obligations. To request access to a record, please complete Form 2⁷.

Please submit the completed form (together with the relevant request fee we explain below) to our information officer’s email address, our physical address, or by fax using the details we provide. Please ensure that the completed form:

has enough information for the information officer to identify you, the
requested records, and the form of access you require,
specifies your email address, postal address, or fax number,
describes the right that you seek to exercise or protect,
explains why you need the requested record to exercise or protect that
right,
provides any other way you would like to be informed of our decision other
than in writing, and
provides proof of the capacity in which you are making the request if you
are making it on behalf of someone else (we will decide whether this proof
is satisfactory).

If you do not use the standard form, we may:

reject the request due to lack of procedural compliance,
refuse it if you do not provide sufficient information, or
delay it.

8. How we will give you access

We will evaluate and consider all requests we receive. If we approve your request, we will decide how to provide access to you – unless you have asked for access in a specific form. Publication of this manual does not give rise to any rights to access information records, except in terms of PAIA.

9. How much it will cost you

Request fees

When submitting your request, you must pay us a request fee⁸ as the law prescribes.

You must pay us the prescribed fees before we give you access. You will receive a notice from our information officer upon your request⁹, setting out the application procedure¹⁰.

Access fees

If we grant the request, you will have to pay us a further access fee¹¹ the law prescribes that includes a fee for the time it takes us to handle your request, or if the time has exceeded the prescribed hours to search and prepare the record for disclosure. Our information officer will notify you if you need to pay a deposit for the access fee. The deposit may be up to one third of the prescribed access fee¹². The access fee will provide for:

the costs of making the record, or transcribing the record,
a postal fee (if applicable), and
the reasonable time we need to search for the record and prepare the record for you¹³.

If you paid the deposit and we refused your request, we will refund you the deposit amount. Until you have paid the fees, we may withhold the record you requested.

10. Grounds for us to refuse access

We may have to refuse you access to certain records in terms of PAIA to protect:

someone else’s privacy¹⁴,
another company’s commercial information¹⁵,
someone else’s confidential information¹⁶,
research information¹⁷,
the safety of individuals and property¹⁸, or
records privileged from production in legal proceedings¹⁹.

Our decision on giving you access

We will notify you in writing whether your request has been approved or denied within 30 calendar days after receiving your request. If we cannot find the record you asked for or it does not exist, we will notify you by way of affidavit that it is not possible to give access to that record.

11. Remedies available if we refuse to give you access

If we deny your request for access, you may:

apply to a court²⁰ with appropriate jurisdiction, or

paia-manual-your-organisation/access-to-information-fees-for-private-bodies

complain²¹ to the Information Regulator,

for the necessary relief within 180 calendar days of us notifying you of our decision.

12. How we process and protect personal information

We process the personal information of various categories of people for various purposes. Please refer to our website for our Privacy Policy or ask our information officer for a copy.

13. Availability of this Manual

This manual is available in English in electronic format on our website and in physical format at the reception of our company offices.

14. Updates to this Manual

We will update this manual whenever we make material changes to it.

Notes

¹ To read PAIA go to https://accesstoinformation.co.za/. For a plain language summary go to https://www.michalsons.com/focus-areas/information-technology-law/access-to-information-paia/promotion-of-access-to-information-act promotion-of-access-to-information-act
² Section 51(1) of PAIA
³ https://www.justice.gov.za/inforeg/docs.html
⁴ Section 52
⁵ https://www.bizportal.gov.za/
⁶ https://www.michalsons.com/focus-areas/information-technology-law/access-to-information-paia/paia-manual-your-organisation/laws-that-require-bodies-to-hold-records
⁷ https://www.justice.gov.za/inforeg/docs/forms/InfoRegSA-PAIA-Form02-Reg7.pdf
⁸ https://www.michalsons.com/focus-areas/information-technology-law/access-to-information-paia/paia-manual-your-organisation/access-to-information-fees-for-private-bodies
⁹ Section 54(1)
¹⁰ Section 54(3)(c)
¹¹ https://www.michalsons.com/focus-areas/information-technology-law/access-to-information-paia/paia-manual-your-organisation/access-to-information-fees-for-private-bodies
¹² Section 54(2)
¹³ Section 54(7)
¹⁴ Section 63
¹⁵ Section 64
¹⁶ Section 65
¹⁷ Section 68
¹⁸ Section 66
¹⁹ Section 67
²⁰ Section 78