PAIA CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK SHADOW REPORT 2014

The PAIA Civil Society Network (CSN) Shadow Report 2014 evaluates the implementation of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) in South Africa between August 2013 and July 2014. The report documents widespread non-compliance by both public and private bodies, characterized by high rates of ignored requests, failures to meet statutory deadlines, and a perceived shift toward government secrecy. It highlights the role of litigation in securing information and discusses legislative developments, including the Protection of Personal Information Act and the Protection of State Information Bill.

• Public bodies demonstrate poor compliance with PAIA statutory timeframes and response obligations. Only 37% of requests to public bodies were responded to within the legal timeframe, and 26% of all initial requests received no response at all. Furthermore, 44% of internal appeals were ignored and 35% were denied.
• A significant portion of initial requests to public bodies are denied, often without proper notification or legal justification. Of the requests that received a response or were deemed responded to, 56.5% were decisions (or deemed decisions) to deny the request in full. In 54% of these cases, the public body failed to notify the requester of their right to appeal.
• The private sector also shows worrying levels of non-compliance. In a sample of 36 requests (excluding pending ones), 18 were refused, including four deemed refusals where the body failed to respond. The report notes that the lack of an inexpensive appeal mechanism other than court action allows some private bodies to avoid legal obligations by ignoring requests.
• The report identifies several emergent patterns of non-compliance, including the failure of both public and private bodies to consider the 'public interest override' and the obligation to 'sever' confidential information from non-confidential records. Additionally, some public bodies have incorrectly asserted that specific legislation overrides the supremacy of PAIA.
• Litigation has been a primary, though costly, tool for securing information. Notable victories include the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA) successfully compelling ArcelorMittal South Africa to release environmental records, and the Mail & Guardian securing the Khampepe Report. The report notes that all adjudicated matters to date have resulted in positive outcomes for the requesters.
• An audit of national government departments found that 76% (35 out of 46) published a PAIA Manual on their websites, representing an improvement over the previous year. However, 11 departments, including the Department of Justice & Constitutional Development and the State Security Agency, failed to provide a manual.
• The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) introduces an Information Regulator to review PAIA decisions, which is expected to provide a swifter, cheaper alternative to court litigation. Conversely, the Protection of State Information Bill is viewed as a threat to transparency, as it centralizes the classification of information under the State Security Agency and may criminalize whistle-blowers.

APA

Kennedy, C. (2015). PAIA CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK SHADOW REPORT 2014. Centre for Environmental Rights. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/PCSN_ShadowRep2014.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Kennedy, Catherine. PAIA CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK SHADOW REPORT 2014. Centre for Environmental Rights, 2015. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/PCSN_ShadowRep2014.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kennedy |first1=Catherine |title=PAIA CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK SHADOW REPORT 2014 |publisher=Centre for Environmental Rights |date=2 February 2015 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/PCSN_ShadowRep2014.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kennedy2015paia, author = {Kennedy, Catherine}, title = {{PAIA CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK SHADOW REPORT 2014}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2015}, month = feb, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/PCSN_ShadowRep2014.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }