SHADOW REPORT 2017

The 2017 Shadow Report, compiled by the South African History Archive (SAHA) for the Access to Information Network (ATIN), evaluates compliance with the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (PAIA) between 1 August 2016 and 31 July 2017. Based on 408 requests, the report finds widespread non-compliance by public bodies, particularly regarding statutory timeframes and the high rate of deemed refusals. It highlights systemic issues such as the misuse of request transfers, inadequate reasons for refusal, and the lack of transparency in state surveillance and environmental reporting.

• Public bodies demonstrate significant non-compliance with statutory response timeframes. Of 386 requests submitted to public bodies, 252 (65 percent) were not responded to within the legal timeframe, the highest percentage of non-compliance reported in recent years. Local government is a primary driver of this trend, accounting for 171 (68 percent) of the total overdue responses.
• A high volume of PAIA requests result in 'deemed refusals' due to total silence from the requestee. For requests to public bodies, 169 (47.5 percent) were deemed refused, while 40 percent of requests to private bodies faced the same outcome. At the internal appeal stage, the failure rate is even higher, with 126 internal appeals (79.25 percent) deemed dismissed by public bodies.
• Public bodies frequently misuse Section 23 of PAIA, which allows refusal if a record cannot be found or does not exist. Although the law requires an affidavit or affirmation detailing the search steps taken, this was provided in only 15 (28 percent) of the 53 instances where Section 23 was cited or inferred.
• There is a growing trend of public bodies transferring requests to other entities to avoid responsibility, a process that lacks an appeal mechanism for errors. The report notes that some transfers occur at the internal appeal stage, which is not provided for under PAIA, potentially extending wait times by several months.
• The report identifies a practice of 'sanitising' records under the guise of redaction, where information is removed without the legally required adequate reasons or specific references to Chapter 4 of PAIA. An example cited is Eskom's release of a redacted Dentons Report, where redactions were not substantiated despite appeals.
• Data obtained from telecommunications companies (MTN, Vodacom, Cell C, and Telkom) reveals that law enforcement agencies bypass the RICA judge's oversight by using section 205 of the Criminal Procedures Act (CPA) to access metadata. This allows agencies to obtain call records for a minimum of 70,960 phone numbers annually, with estimates suggesting the actual number could be as high as 194,820.
• The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) successfully advocated for the King IV Report (launched 1 November 2016) to include stricter environmental disclosure requirements. Companies are now required to disclose non-compliance findings from environmental regulators, rather than just financial penalties, which the CER argued were ineffective indicators of materiality in South Africa.
• The Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) is highlighted for poor PAIA compliance and a tendency to refuse requests for inspection and compliance monitoring reports, which hinders civil society's ability to monitor environmental law enforcement.
• The report recommends amending Section 90 of PAIA to introduce sanctions for information officers who fail to respond within statutory timeframes, citing the Kenyan Access to Information Act 31 of 2016 as a model where such failures can lead to fines or imprisonment.

APA

Abdullah, I. (2017). SHADOW REPORT 2017. Centre for Environmental Rights. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2017-Shadow-Report.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Abdullah, Imraan. SHADOW REPORT 2017. Centre for Environmental Rights, 2017. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2017-Shadow-Report.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Abdullah |first1=Imraan |title=SHADOW REPORT 2017 |publisher=Centre for Environmental Rights |date=2017 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2017-Shadow-Report.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{abdullah2017shadow, author = {Abdullah, Imraan}, title = {{SHADOW REPORT 2017}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2017}, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2017-Shadow-Report.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }