City not compliant with Promotion of Access to Information Act

THE City has been identified as one of 15 municipalities that are non-compliant with the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) No 2 of 2000.

This is according to the Information Regulator’s enforcement committee, which was launched in July this year.

The regulator has started acting against transgressors with a particular focus on municipalities.

The 15 municipalities are the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan, City of Tshwane Metropolitan, City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan, West Rand District, City of Cape Town Metropolitan, Cape Winelands District, eThekwini Metropolitan, Umgungundlovu District, Gert Sibande District, Capricon District, Thabo Mofutsanyana District, Mangaung Metropolitan, Bojanala Platinum District, Buffalo City Metropolitan and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan.

The enforcement committee had its inaugural sitting on November 15 and 16 and was represented by its chairperson, advocate Helen Fourie, the alternate chairperson, Simonè Margadie, and Mfana Gwala, a part-time regulator member.

The regulator said in a statement yesterday: “The enforcement committee met to review 15 assessment reports on compliance with Paia by metropolitan municipalities and district municipalities … In this assessment exercise, the regulator investigated how municipal managers, as information officers in terms of Paia, were complying with the requirements of the law.

“Paia imposes an obligation on an information officer to compile a Paia manual and make it available on the institution’s website, if any, and at the head office of the institution for public inspection during normal business hours.”

The regulator’s Paia executive, Ntsumbedzeni Nemasisi, said: “The 15 assessment reports that we have referred to the enforcement committee show that one-hundred percent (100%) of the metropolitan and district municipalities assessed were, in our opinion, non-compliant with the critical provisions of Paia.”

Nemasisi warned that a municipal manager who refused or failed to comply with an enforcement notice issued by the regulator would be guilty of an offence and faced a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years or both.

The City did not respond to questions by deadline.