PAIA MANUAL
Access to Information Manual | Version 1 | Last revised: 29 June 2023
1. Introduction and Purpose
We respect your right of access to information. This manual will help you (the requester of information) to exercise that right and help you know how you may get access to our records. The Promotion to Access of Information Act 2 of 2000 as amended from time to time (known as PAIA) requires us to draft and make this PAIA manual available to you.
- Know what types of information we have.
- Know how to request access to it.
- Know if we have the appropriate security measures in place.
- Know how we process personal information.
We describe who we are and what we do on our website, or you can ask us for this information. PAIA in terms of Section 51(1) requires the information officer of a private body to compile a manual that contains information on the records it holds. A ‘private body’ means a natural person, company or other type of juristic entity that carries on any trade, business or profession and includes a political party. We are a private body.
2. Our details
Our organisation’s and information officer’s details are on our website or available on request.
Information Officer
Name: Mary-Anne Horn
Tel: 011 849 7053
Email: maryanne@umbani.com
3. Guide on how to use PAIA and how to obtain access to the guide
For further guidance, contact the Information Regulator. They have compiled a PAIA guide in each official language of South Africa including braille on how to exercise your rights under PAIA.
Visit their website: www.inforegulator.org.za
Visit their location: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001
Write to them: P.O Box 3153, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017
Call them: 010 023 5200
Ask a general enquiry by email: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
Lodge a complaint by email: PAIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
4. Records which we make automatically available
5. Records we hold to function
We hold the following subjects and categories of records in electronic or physical format, which we do not make automatically available. You may request access to them. These are records that most organisations have and include:
6. Records we hold to comply with the law
We hold records that all organisations are required by law to hold. We also hold records that the law specifically requires organisations like ours to retain. Please ask our information officer for details.
Records include but are not limited to:
7. How you can request access
We have appointed our information officer to deal with all matters relating to PAIA so we can comply with our PAIA obligations. To request access to a record, please complete Form 2.
Please submit the completed form (together with the relevant request fee we explain below) to our information officer’s email address, or by our physical address, using the details we provide. Please ensure that the completed form:
- has enough information for the information officer to identify you, the requested records, and the form of access you require,
- specifies your email address, or postal address,
- describes the right that you seek to exercise or protect,
- explains why you need the requested record to exercise or protect that right,
- provides any other way you would like to be informed of our decision other than in writing, and
- provides proof of the capacity in which you are making the request if you are making it on behalf of someone else (we will decide whether this proof is satisfactory).
If you do not use the standard form, we may:
- reject the request due to lack of procedural compliance,
- refuse it if you do not provide sufficient information, or
- delay it.
8. How we will give you access
We will evaluate and consider all requests we receive. If we approve your request, we will decide how to provide access to you – unless you have asked for access in a specific form. Publication of this manual does not give rise to any rights to access information records, except in terms of PAIA.
9. How much it will cost you
Request fees
When submitting your request, you must pay us a request fee as the law prescribes. You must pay us the prescribed fees before we give you access. You will receive a notice from our information officer upon your request Section 54(1), setting out the application procedure Section 54(3)(c).
Access fees
If we grant the request, you will have to pay us a further access fee the law prescribes that includes a fee for the time it takes us to handle your request, or if the time has exceeded the prescribed hours to search and prepare the record for disclosure. Our information officer will notify you if you need to pay a deposit for the access fee. The deposit may be up to one third of the prescribed access fee Section 54(2).
The access fee will provide for:
- the costs of making the record, or transcribing the record,
- a postal fee (if applicable),
- the reasonable time we need to search for the record and prepare the record for you Section 54(7).
If you paid the deposit and we refused your request, we will refund you the deposit amount. Until you have paid the fees, we may withhold the record you requested.
10. Grounds for us to refuse access
We may have to refuse you access to certain records in terms of PAIA to protect:
- someone else’s privacy Section 63
- another company’s commercial information Section 64
- someone else’s confidential information Section 65
- research information Section 68
- the safety of individuals and property Section 66
- records privileged from production in legal proceedings Section 67
Our decision on giving you access:
We will notify you in writing whether your request has been approved or denied within 30 calendar days after receiving your request. If we cannot find the record you asked for or it does not exist, we will notify you by way of affidavit that it is not possible to give access to that record.
11. Remedies available if we refuse to give you access
If we deny your request for access, you may:
- apply to a court Section 78 with appropriate jurisdiction or
- complain to the Information Regulator
for the necessary relief within 180 calendar days of us notifying you of our decision.
12. How we process and protect personal information
We process the personal information of various categories of people for various purposes. Please refer to our website for our Privacy Policy or ask our information officer for a copy.
Description of the categories of Data Subjects and of the information or categories of information relating thereto:
The recipients or categories of recipients to whom the personal information may be supplied:
General description of Information Security Measures we implement to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the information, includes but is not limited to
- Data Encryption
- Antivirus
- Anti-malware Solutions
13. Availability of this Manual
This manual is available in English in electronic format on our website and in physical format at the reception of our company offices.
A fee for a copy of the Manual, as contemplated in annexure B of the Regulations, shall be payable per each A4-size photocopy made.
14. Updates to this Manual
We will update this manual whenever we make material changes to it.
Umbani Software cc is a Bespoke
Software Development Company based in Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa.
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