PAIA Civil Society Network – Shadow Report 2013

The report finds a decline in the effective implementation of PAIA in South Africa, with a record low of 16% of requests released in full and a significant rise in 'deemed refusals' where information holders fail to respond. It highlights systemic failures in records management and a lack of resources and training within public bodies, while also noting high non-compliance regarding the publication of mandatory PAIA manuals.

• The rate of full release of requested records has declined steadily from 35% in 2009 to 22% in 2011, reaching an all-time low of 16% for the 2012/2013 reporting period.
• Refusals of information requests are increasing, with 66% of initial requests refused. Notably, 54% of all requests (excluding pending ones) were 'deemed refusals', meaning the information holder failed to respond entirely.
• Compliance with statutory timeframes is very low, with only 22% of requests and 7% of internal appeals receiving a response within the required time.
• The most frequent reason for refusing access to records was that the records did not exist or could not be found, cited in 44% of responses, which the report suggests indicates poor records management in government.
• Public bodies show high levels of non-compliance with Section 14 of PAIA regarding the publication of PAIA manuals; by the end of the reporting period, only 60% of 45 checked national government departments had a manual on their website, and only 18% provided them in the required three languages.
• Requests to private bodies face significant hurdles, with a 75% refusal rate and a lack of appeal mechanisms outside of court action, which the report argues allows some private bodies to avoid legal obligations by ignoring requests.
• The report identifies a critical lack of funding for PAIA compliance, citing a South African Human Rights Commission audit (2008-2012) showing that fewer than 15% of audited institutions had specifically budgeted for PAIA implementation.

APA

Kennedy, C. (2013). PAIA Civil Society Network – Shadow Report 2013. Centre for Environmental Rights. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/PCSN_ShadowRep2013_final_20131029.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Kennedy, Catherine. PAIA Civil Society Network – Shadow Report 2013. Centre for Environmental Rights, 2013. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/PCSN_ShadowRep2013_final_20131029.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kennedy |first1=Catherine |title=PAIA Civil Society Network – Shadow Report 2013 |publisher=Centre for Environmental Rights |date=29 October 2013 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/PCSN_ShadowRep2013_final_20131029.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kennedy2013paia, author = {Kennedy, Catherine}, title = {{PAIA Civil Society Network – Shadow Report 2013}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2013}, month = oct, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/PCSN_ShadowRep2013_final_20131029.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }