Bibliography: pages 86-93 / In South Africa, freedom of information (FOI) or the right of access to information (ATI) is
entrenched in section 32 of the Constitution. Section 32 guarantees every citizen the right of
access to any information held by the state or held by any other person that is to be used for
the protection or exercise of any right. The Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA)
is the law that gives effect to section 32 of the Constitution. Regardless of a remarkable trend
towards the adoption of FOI laws globally, international trends have shown this does not
automatically translate into fulfilment of people’s right to information, as access to
information by citizens remains a challenging factor. This study utilised mixed method
research through the explanatory sequential design to assess compliance with FOI legislation
by public bodies in South Africa with the view to ensure transparency, accountability and
good governance. In this regard, the study first conducted a quantitative study by analysing
the reports of the South African Human Rights Commission from the reporting years 2006/07
to 2016/07 to assess compliance with sections 14, 17 and 32 of the PAIA. The compliance
trends were identified and thereafter a qualitative study was conducted to answer the question
why the situation was the way it was. In this regard, interviews were conducted with a
purposively chosen sample from complying and non-complying public bodies. The targeted
participants were records managers, deputy information officers or officials responsible for
PAIA in each chosen public body. The mixing strategy for the current study was at the data
analysis, presentation and reporting level. Key results suggest that over the years, there were
problems in the implementation of the FOI legislation in South Africa and its use was limited.
Where implementation has taken place, it has been partial and inconsistent. The
responsibility for implementation of FOI legislation in most public bodies is assigned to legal
departments that do not have knowledge of what records are created, where and how they
are kept. With regard to compliance, in terms of the degree of comparison, the situation was
better in national departments, worse in provincial departments (with full compliance from
the Free State, Limpopo, Western Cape and, to some extent, KwaZulu-Natal) and worst in
municipalities. The study recommends the establishment of an information governance unit
to implement FOI in public bodies. This unit will also be responsible for other information
functions such as records management and information technology. Failure to assign
responsibility to a relevant unit would perpetuate the non-compliance with FOI legislation in
South Africa. As a result, accountability, transparency and good governance preached by the
public sector to advance democracy in South Africa would be a mirage. A model for the
implementation of PAIA within a public body is suggested. / Information Science / M. Inf.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/27338 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Nkwe, Itumeleng Marcia Mamagase |
| Contributors | Ngoepe, Mpho Solomon |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | 1 online resource (xiii, 112 pages) : illustrations (mostly color), application/pdf |
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