Access to Information
Promotion of Access to Information Act 2. of 2000 (PAIA)
Section 32 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa states that everyone has the right of access to 'any information held by the state' and 'any information held by another person and that is required for the exercise or protection of any rights'. In 2000 the Promotion of Access to Information Act was enacted to give effect to these rights. The two main objectives of PAIA are:
1. To give South Africans and non-South Africans a legal right to access information held by public and privtate bodies, enabling them to more fully exercise and protect their rights.
2. To foster a culture of openness and accountability in South Africa.
Download the Promotion of Access to Information Act
Download the Promotion of Access to Information Act Regulations, Forms and Notices
Other organisations in South Africa that work in access to information
Black Sash is a NGO that seeks to promote and protect socio-economic rights. Black Sash provides advice on the exercise of rights, including the right to information under PAIA, as well as undertaking rights education and advocacy work.
Visit Black Sash
Centre for Environmental Rights (CER)
The Centre for Environmental Rights is a NGO established in October 2009 to provide legal and related support to environmental CSOs and communities. Its mission is to advance environmental rights in South Africa, and its vision is to facilitate civil society participation in environmental governance that is stronger, more streamlined, and better legally and scientifically equipped. As part of its work, CER uses PAIA to promote transparency and accountability in envrionmental governance.
Visit the Centre for Environmental Rights
Khulumani Support Group
The Khulumani Support Group is a non-profit membership-based organisation formed in 1995 by survivors and families of victims of the political conflict of South Africa's apartheid past. Khulumani has an extensive community outreach programme, which includes PAIA education, and has used PAIA internally to inform its work regarding issues arising from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Visit the Khulumani Support Group
Legal Resources Centre (LRC)
The Legal Resources Centre is a NGO offering legal advice and assistance to vulnerable and/or marginalised members of society. The LRC engages in public interest litigation, including PAIA, where its clients, most of whom are NGO's, encounter problems when using the Act to collect evidence for legal matters.
Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory
The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory is a NGO which contributes to the making of just society by keeping alive the legacy of Nelson Mandela, provding an integrated public information resource on his life and times and by convening dialogue around critica social issues.
Visit Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory
Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC)
The Open Democracy Advice Centre is a NGO which promotes openness and transparency in South Africa's developing democracy. Its primary aims are to foster a culture of accountability in the public and private sector and to assist people in South Africa to realise their human rights. It offers support and advice on two key pieces of legislation: PAIA and the Protected Disclosures Act.
Visit the Open Democracy Advice Centre
The Public Protector is established under chapter nine of the Constitution and its mandate is to strengthen constitutional democracy by investigating and redressing improper and prejudicial conduct, maladministration and abuse of power in state affairs, including in respect of decisions under PAIA.
Visit the Public Protector
Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM)
PSAM is a monitoring and research institute based at Rhodes University in Grahamstown which aims to improve public service delivery and the progressive realisation of constitutional rights by using various social accountability monitoring tools to monitor the public resource management cycle. PSAM has utilised PAIA to access numerous documents of the Eastern Cape Government to assist in its monitoring work.
Visit the Public Service Accountability Monitor
Right2Know Campaign (R2K)
The Right2Know Campaign is a national coalition of non-government organisations and individuals working to improve the right to know in South Africa. Initially formed in opposition to the Protection of State Information Bill, the campaign has subsequently broadened its mandate to include promoting the right to information more generally.
Visit the Right2Know Campaign
South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC)
The South African Human Rights Commission is the national institution established under chapter nine of the Constitution to support constitutional democracy. The SAHRC has oversight and monitoring responsibilities to ensure that public and private bodies fulfill their responsibilites in terms of section 32 of the Constition and sections 14 and 51 of PAIA. Its specific responsibilities in relation to PAIA are outlined in sections 83-85 of the Act. The SAHRC also receives complaints in relation to decisions or the conduct of officials under PAIA.
Visit the South African Human Rights Commission
Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI)
The Socio-Economic Rights Institute is a NGO providing professional, dedicated and expert socio-economic rights assistance to individuals, communities and social movements in South Africa. SERI conducts applied research, engages with government, advocates for policy and legal reform, facilitates civil society coordination and mobilisation, and litigates in the public interest.
Visit the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa
Organisations working in access to information in Africa
Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC)
The Africa Freedom of Information Centre is a membership civil society organization promoting the right of access to information. AFIC is striving to become a reliable, dependable and all round freedom of information support centre on the African continent.
Visit the Africa Freedom of Information Centre
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
The Media Institute of Southern Africa is a NGO with representation in 11 of the Sourthern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries. It focuses primarily on the need to promote a free, independent and pluralistic media and seeks ways to promote the free flow of information as a principal means of nuturing democracy and human rights in Africa.
Visit the Media Institute of Southern Africa
Organisations working in access to information internationally
Access Info Europe
Access Info Europe is a NGO dedicated to promoting and protecting the right of access to information in Europe and globally as a tool for defending civil liberties and human rights, for facilitating public participation in decision-making and for holding governments accountable.
Visit Access Info Europe
Article 19 is a NGO that creates and facilitates campagins to advance the rights of freedom of expression and access to information around the world. Article 19 provides legal knowledge and representation to those who require it, gathers information and shares knowledge.
Visit Article 19
Centre for Law and Democracy
The Centre for Law and Democracy works to promote, protect and develop those human rights which serve as the foundation for or underpin democracy, including the rights to freedom of expression, to vote and participate in governance, to access information and to freedom of assembly and association.
Visit the Centre for Law and Democracy
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative is an NGO dedicated to promoting awareness of, and adherence to, the Harare Commonwealth Declaration, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other internationally recognised human rights instruments, as well as domestic instruments supporting human rights in Commonwealth member states. It has a special programme dedicated to advancing the right to information.
Visit the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
Freedominfo.org is a virtual resource on freedom of information providing the latest news on the right to information, examples of best practice, ideas for successful campaign strategies, details of new and amended acts and links to the efforts of freedom of information activists from around the world.
Freedom of Information Advocates Network (FOIAnet)
The Freedom of Information Advocates Network is an international information-sharing network of organisations and individuals including CSO representatives, lawyers, academics and information commissioners working to promote the right of access to information.
Right2INFO.org brings together information on the constitutional and legal framework for the right of access to information as well case law from more than 80 countries, organised and analysed by topic.
The Access Initiative
The Access Initiative is a network of civil society organisations dedicated to ensuring that local communities have the rights and abilities to gain access to information and to participate in decisions that affect their lives and their environment.
Visit The Access Initiative