Access to information promotes openness and transparency, which leads to accountability. PAIA requires public bodies to be open or transparent in an effort to stop things like corruption. If you are sick of corruption, PAIA is your friend. PAIA also helps people to access information that enables them to enforce their rights. This is why PAIA also applies to private bodies.
Is the public interested in your records?
A PAIA manual helps the public know whether a body has information they might want to access. It therefore makes sense that those bodies who are likely to have information the public would like to access (or have an interest in) should have a manual. Bodies that have very little information of public interest should be exempt. The burden does not match the potential benefit.
The Information Regulator has stated that all public and private bodies must have had a PAIA manual by 1 January 2022. This means that no organisation is exempt from having a PAIA manual. This also means that organisations that have never had one now need one.
Before spending a lot of money to draft your PAIA manual, you should first determine the level of interest the public might have in your records. Not all organisations are the same and also do not have the same level of public interest. A company’s public interest score might be relevant or a good measure to determine a PAIA public interest score. The number of employees is not relevant. Size is not as important as public interest. The industry in which the body operates might be an indicator but not necessarily. You therefore need to work out if your organisation falls under a high or low public interest bracket.
Why this is important
It is vital to get this right because it is a criminal offence not to have a manual. To mitigate this risk, you should first assess your organisation’s public interest score and then decide on the next steps.
Do I have a low or high public interest score? Do this self-assessment
In order to determine if your organisation is a high public interest organisation, answer the questions below. If you answer yes to any of the following questions, your organisation is a high public interest organisation, and you should join the Michalsons access to information programme.
| Question | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Do you or did you previously perform a public function, or a role similar to a public body? | ||
| 2. Do your operations have a significant impact on the environment? (e.g. does your organisation have high carbon emissions, is a big contribution to pollution etc.) | ||
| 3. Do your operations have a big impact on public safety or national security? (e.g. are you considered a national key point, critical infrastructure, involved in national security?) | ||
| 4. Do your operations have a significant impact on the economy? (e.g. do you contribute a lot to the economy?) | ||
| 5. Do you have public funding or rely on donations from the public for your operations? | ||
| 6. Were you previously required to have a PAIA manual? | ||
| 7. Are you considered a body with a high public interest in terms of the Companies Act? |
Still not sure?
If you answered no to all of the questions above, move on to the table below. If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the following questions, your organisation could be a high public interest organisation.Â
| Question | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| 7. Does your organisation have a turnover of more than R10 million? | ||
| 8. Do you hold a lot of records of information? (e.g. do you have databases filled with information?) | ||
| 9. Do you hold records related to special personal information of members of the public? (e.g. health or criminal information) | ||
| 10. Do you hold records for an extended period or even indefinitely? (e.g. do you hold records for longer than a law requires?) |
Actions you can take
- Do the self-assessment below to determine if you a low-public-interest or high-public-interest organisation.
- If you are a high public interest organisation, it’s not just a matter of having a manual. There are many things to consider because your risk is higher and your responsibilities regarding transparency, disclosure, and reporting are greater. Therefore, you should join the Michaslsons Access to Information programme.
- If you are still not sure, watch our video or contact us to help you determine the most suitable next steps for your organisation.