ATI Network Shadow Report 2018

The ATI Network Shadow Report 2018 details systemic failures in South Africa's access to information framework, noting low compliance rates among public bodies and significant barriers to obtaining data from private entities. It highlights specific cases where denied information jeopardized the right to education and environmental protection, while also discussing legal victories regarding political party funding and non-profit transparency.

• Public bodies demonstrate low compliance with statutory timeframes for PAIA requests; only 45% of the 169 requests submitted to public bodies received responses within the required period, while 51% did not.
• Access to information from public bodies is frequently denied through 'deemed refusal', where requests are ignored without reason. Of the 169 requests to public bodies, 56 (35.4%) were deemed refused because no response was received before the statutory limit lapsed.
• Requests to private bodies are rare and often obstructed by the requirement for the requester to prove an 'element of need'. For example, Glencore Operations South Africa (Pty) Ltd resisted requests from the Centre for Environmental Rights regarding water use license compliance on these grounds.
• The Department of Basic Education failed to provide timely access to critical education infrastructure data, including the Eastern Cape's implementation plan (which arrived 9 months late) and a School Sanitation Audit requested by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
• In the Mabola Protected Environment case, the Department of Mineral Resources partially refused a request for correspondence with Atha-Africa Ventures (Pty) Ltd, citing that the records contained deliberations used to formulate policy or take a decision.
• The Constitutional Court in MyVote Counts v Minister of Justice declared PAIA unconstitutional regarding the disclosure of political party funds, ruling that such information is essential for the right to make informed political choices.
• The Johannesburg High Court's March 2018 decision in South African History Archive v South African Reserve Bank is criticised for shielding individuals linked to Apartheid-era financial crimes by protecting individual interests over the public good.

APA

Zulu, N. N. (2018). ATI Network Shadow Report 2018. Centre for Environmental Rights. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ATI-Network-Shadow-Report-2018.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Zulu, Nobukhosi Ntombifuthi. ATI Network Shadow Report 2018. Centre for Environmental Rights, 2018. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ATI-Network-Shadow-Report-2018.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Zulu |first1=Nobukhosi Ntombifuthi |title=ATI Network Shadow Report 2018 |publisher=Centre for Environmental Rights |date=2018 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ATI-Network-Shadow-Report-2018.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{zulu2018ati, author = {Zulu, Nobukhosi Ntombifuthi}, title = {{ATI Network Shadow Report 2018}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2018}, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ATI-Network-Shadow-Report-2018.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }