Roles, terms and definitions related to the Act [Chapter 1 Definitions and Interpretations]

1.                Introduction

The Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), Act 2 of 2000 (hereafter also called the Act) came into effect on 9 March 2001, underlining the importance of access to information for an open, democratic, transparent society. The Act gives legislative form to section 32 of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution and should be interpreted as legislation giving effect to a constitutional right. This right states:

            Access to information

            32 (1)    Everyone has the right of access to:

(a)                 any information held by the state; and

(b)                any information that is held by another person and that is required for the exercise of any rights.

(2)  National legislation must be enacted to give effect to this right, and may provide for reasonable measures to alleviate the administrative and financial burden on the state.

The objectives of PAIA are thus:

·               to give effect to the constitutional right of access to any information as stated above;

·               to set out justifiable limitations on the right of access to information aimed at protecting people's privacy, confidential commercial information and ensuring effective, efficient and good governance;

·               to balance the right of access to information with all the other rights in the constitution;

·               to promote a culture of human rights and social justice;

·               to establish mechanisms and procedures to enable persons to obtain access to records as swiftly, inexpensively and effortlessly as is reasonably possible;

·               to promote transparency, accountability and effective governance;

·               to empower and educate everyone to:

o              understand their rights in terms of the Act;

o              understand the functions and operation of public bodies; and

o              effectively scrutinise and participate in decision-making by public bodies that affects their rights.

This act overrides any other Acts or Regulations restricting access to records, except in the following cases (Section 5, 6, 12):

·               Act 107 of 1998, National Environmental Management Act, 1998, [Section 31(1) and 31(2)];

·              All records of the Cabinet and its committees, judicial functions of a court, special tribunal, or judicial officer or an individual member of Parliament or Provincial Legislature.

2.                Human Rights Commission Guide on how to use the Act [Section 14(1)(c)]

It is the responsibility of the South African Human Rights Commission to compile a guide, in an easily comprehensible form and manner, as may be required by a person who wishes to exercise any right contemplated in the Act.

This guide will be made available in all the official languages and be available from the South African Human Rights Commission by not later than August 2003.

Any enquiries regarding this guide should be directed to:

3.                National Department of Human Settlements Manual

The purpose of this manual is to inform a person how to obtain access to records held by the National Department of Human Settlements, giving effect to Section 14 of the Act.

4.                Information Officer, Deputy Information Officers [Section 14(1)(b)]

In terms of the Act the Director General of the National Department of Human Settlements is the Information Officer and she delegated her power and duties by designating the following personnel to act as the Information Officer and Deputy Information Officers respectively:

 All PAIA issues will be dealt with by the PAIA Centre.

5.                Structure and functions of the National Department of Human Settlements [Section 14(1)(f)]

 5.2             Functions of the National Department of Human Settlements

5.2.1       The vision and mission of the National Department of Human Settlements

5.2.2       The roles and functions of the National Department of Human Settlements

The primary role of national government is to “establish and facilitate a sustainable housing development process” after consultation with the nine MECs for Human Settlements, and the national organisation representing municipalities (South African Local Government Association, SALGA).

a.            Broad Functions described in the Housing Code

"In order to facilitate and establish a sustainable national housing development process, national government, acting through the Minister of Human Settlements, must carry out a number of key functions.  These functions are as follows:

1.                   Policy: Determines national policy, including norms and standards, in respect of housing development;

2.                   Goals: Sets broad national housing delivery goals; facilitates the setting of provincial housing delivery goals; and, where appropriate, facilitates the setting of housing delivery goals of a municipality;

3.                   Performance monitoring: Monitors the performance of the housing sector against housing delivery goals and performance indicators, in co- operation with every MEC;

4.                   Capacity support:

a.       Assists provinces to develop their administrative capacity;

b.       Supports and strengthens the capacity of municipalities to manage their own affairs, to exercise their powers and perform their duties in respect of housing development;

5.                   Consultation: Promotes consultation on matters regarding housing development between national government and representatives of civil society, the sectors and subsectors supplying or financing housing goods and services, provincial government and municipalities and any other stakeholder in housing development;

6.                  Communication: Promotes effective communication in respect of housing development."

b.           Functions

In addition to the above broad functions and in support thereof, the Minister of Housing undertakes the following:

·                     To establish a national institutional and funding framework for housing development;

·                     To negotiate the apportionment of the State budget for housing development purposes;

·                     To allocate funds for national housing programmes to provincial governments;

·                     To prepare and maintain a multi-year housing development plan;

·                     To establish and finance national institutions for purposes of housing development;

·                     To evaluate the performance of the housing sector; and

·                     To take steps reasonably necessary to create an environment conducive to enable all role players and individuals to achieve their respective goals in respect of housing development.

5.3            National Department of Human Settlements services available to members of the public [Section 14(1)(f)]

5.3.1       Nature of services

The primary service that the department provides is the establishment and maintenance of a policy and legislative framework required for the facilitation of a sustainable national housing development process. This objective culminated in the introduction of the Housing Act, 1997 (Act No. 107 of 1997), the facilitation of a focussed institutional framework and the National Housing Programmes that direct and govern the Government’s housing assistance and support programmes. The department also facilitates the apportionment of the annual housing allocation to the nine provincial governments for the execution and funding of the National Housing Programmes and Provincial Housing Programmes that are consistent with National Housing Policy.

Housing development realises within a structured and planned regime and is executed by provincial governments and municipalities. The decision-making power regarding National Housing Programmes vests in the members of the Executive Councils responsible for housing of the nine provincial governments.

Municipalities may also apply to the MEC for accreditation to administer National Housing Programmes and, if successful, it will assume the decision-making power in respect of the National Housing Programmes.

In addition to the role provincial governments and municipalities play in regard to housing development, government has established the following national institutions to facilitate the specific housing and housing-related needs of the market:

·               The National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC)

The NHBRC is responsible for the protection of housing consumers by providing a warranty protection against defects in new houses. It furthermore regulates the building industry by facilitating the registration of builders with the NHBRC and by governing the technical norms and standards for house construction with the objective to improve quality in the interests of consumers. All houses to be constructed must be registered at the NHBRC, and the council will in return provide specific services to the industry and consumers.

·               The National Urban and Reconstruction Agency (NURCHA)

NURCHA is primarily responsible for the provision of bridging-finance guarantees to contractors, end-user finance guarantees to assist people in the lowest income categories to access housing credit, and capacity-building grants to communities to facilitate community development. The institution is also responsible for a national savings scheme that assists low-income persons to save towards the goal of gearing their housing-subsidy funding.

·               The National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) 

This institution is a development-finance institution with the main goal of providing housing credit on a sustainable manner to low-income earners. To this end the NHFC undertakes to fund intermediaries to promote broader access to housing, to build adequate and sustainable capacity within the organisations it funds, and to enter into partnerships to pioneer new finance-delivery approaches.

The institution focuses on debt finance where it makes loans available to established housing institutions, non-bank lenders and banks for lending to poor households. It also undertakes equity finance through the provision of financial-gearing capacity to social housing institutions and non-banks. The capacity-building objective is realised through assistance to emerging and new institutions to enable then to fully participate in the market.

·               The Social Housing Foundation (SHF)

The SHF focuses on support for the social housing-institution market. This is achieved by providing training, advice and technical support to emerging and established social-housing institutions. It also assists the Minister in the development of appropriate policy and strategy in respect of the social-housing dimension. The SHF also facilitates access to donor funding for the social-housing initiative.

·               SERVCON Housing Solutions (Pty) Ltd

This institution was established as part of the joint venture between the banks and the government to deal with specific non-performing loans and properties in possession of banks due to defaulting loans, and the abnormality of the South African housing-credit market that existed in 1994. SERVCON assists identified defaulting beneficiaries with the rescheduling of their existing loans, or where affordability dictates to relocate to alternative affordable housing opportunities. Linked to this initiative, a separate delivery institution was created referred to as Thubelisha Homes that undertakes the construction of right-sized housing units.

5.3.2       How to gain access to services

To gain access to the services at the National Department of Human Settlements, requests must be made to the Director General of this Department

5.4             Arrangements/provisions allowing for a person to be involved in the formulation of policy and/or the exercise of powers of the National Department of Human Settlements[Section 14(1)(g)]

National housing policy and strategy formulation and approval takes place within a structured process. In this regard the principle of consultation is made obligatory through the provision of the Housing Act, 1997. The Minister is primarily responsible for the development of national housing policy and strategy. This is undertaken through the consultation process facilitated by the Housing: MINMEC structure. Housing: MINMEC comprises the Minister of Human Settlements, the nine members of the Executive Councils responsible for housing of the nine provincial governments and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA).

The department does, from time to time, consult on a broad basis on policy and strategy issues and such initiatives normally take the form of consultation workshops and national housing summits.

The fundamental principle remains that everyone in the country has access to the decision-making structures through the democratic political dispensation of the Republic. Notwithstanding this fact, the department is committed to consult as widely as practically possible regarding future housing policy and strategy.

6.                     National Department of Human Settlements Records [Section 14(1)(d-e)]

6.1.1            Automatic disclosure of records [Section 14(1)(e)] [Section15(2)]

The records listed here are automatically available without a person having to request access in terms of the Act. These have not yet been gazetted as prescribed in the Act.

The Deputy Information Officer can be contacted to get access to these records:

·               available for inspection in terms of legislation other than this Act,

·               available for purchase

·               available for copying. There is a fee payable for the copies. (See par 6.2)

·              available free of charge in certain instances, e.g. via the National Department of Human Settlements website: http://www.dhs.gov.za.

Table 1: Records automatically available from the National Department of Human Settlements 

6.1.2       Categories of records available for inspection in terms of other legislation

·               The Housing Act 1997 (No 107 of 1997).

·               The Labour Relations Act 1995 (No 66 of 1995 as amended)

·               The Legal Deposit Act 1997 (No 54 of 1997)

·               The National Archives of South Africa Act 1996 (No 43 of 1996)

·               The Home Loan and Mortgage Disclose Act 2000 (No 63 of 2000)

6.1.3       Categories of records available that may be requested via PAIA [Section 14 (1)(d)]

Access to the records listed here are those that have to be requested in terms of the Act. These records can be requested from the National Department of Human Settlements Deputy Information Officers according to the request procedures as described in the paragraph below.

Table 2: Records that can be requested via the Promotion of Access to Information Act, Act 2 of 2000

7.                Request procedure

English will be the formal communication language with regard to this Act.

7.1             Steps to be taken by the Requester

The requester must comply with all the procedural requirements as prescribed in the Act (summarised hereafter), i.e. all requests, complying with the procedures as set out below, will be considered and processed.

Access to a record may only be refused on the grounds of refusal mentioned in the Act. (See par 6.3)

It is recommended that the requester determine what kind of requester he/she is, because it has the following implications.

A request for access must be made by completing the prescribed National Department of Human Settlements request form, paying the request fee and sending it to the Deputy Information Officer.

·               The request form is available:

o              As Annex A to this manual (for completion by hand);

o              Downloadable from the National Department of Human Settlements website (http://www.dhs.gov.za) as part of the National Department of Human Settlements PAIA Manual;

o              By requesting it to be forwarded via fax, letter, phone or e-mail from the Deputy Information Officer;

o              By collecting the form at the National Department of Human Settlements reception or PAIA Centre.

·               The request form can be completed by hand or electronically when it is downloaded from the website.

·               A requester with reading/ writing or other disabilities may make the request verbally. The verbal request will be written on the prescribed form and the requester will be provided with a copy thereof.

·               The form must be signed by the requester.

·               The requester must sign all additional pages of documentation added to the request form.

·               The personnel from the PAIA Centre can also be contacted and will assist in making the request.

To cut down on administration it is recommended that the payment of the Request fee of R35.00, with the exception of a Personal Requester, be attached or included with the request. The National Department of Human Settlements will accept payment by means of cash, postal orders, revenue stamps, credit card and not-transferable cheques (cheques and postal orders must be made payable to THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS and a clearing period of 10 working days must be allowed for cheques). (See par 6.2)

Dispatch the completed request form to the Deputy Information Officer of the National Department of Human Settlements, by:

·               posting it to the postal address provided;

·               delivering it to the PAIA Centre at the physical address; or

·               faxing it (only if no request fees are applicable).

It is recommended that the requester keep a copy of the request for his/her own records.

The National Department of Human Settlements Deputy Information Officer:

·               will only process the request for access once both the:

o              the request form has been correctly completed, and

o              the request fee (where applicable) has been paid;

·               has 30 days (where applicable) to make a decision. An additional 30 days may be added to the original period to make the decision. The requester will be informed in writing by post, within 30 days, of the decision to extend the period; (PAIA-REQ-12)

·               can decide and notify the requester on the following:

o              to grant the request (PAIA-REQ-08 or PAIA-REQ-09);

o              To partially grant/refuse the request (PAIA-REQ-11)

o              notice of fees payable (if applicable). The record(s) will only be made available if the Deputy Information Officer has received the applicable fees; (PAIA-REQ-03)

o              to refuse the request (PAIA-REQ-10);

o              to transfer/forward the request to the applicable public body or other government department (PAIA-REQ-02);

o              that a third party/parties must first be consulted (PAIA-REQ-13);

o              that the record(s) cannot be found  (PAIA-REQ-06); and

o              that access is deferred, i.e. where the record(s) is to be published within 90 days (The Heading and nr of Letter). (PAIA-REQ-07)

7.2          Prescribed Fees (Public Bodies)

In terms of the Act there are two types of fees payable, i.e.:

·               The request fee, which is a standard once-off fee. The prescribed fee is R35,00. This fee must be paid before a request can be processed and the Deputy Information Officer must notify the requester (in writing) that this fee is payable.

·               The access fees include reproduction, search, preparation and postal costs where applicable.

The prescribed fees are summarised in accordance with Part II of the Government Notice (R187) published in the Government Gazette on 15 February 2002.

The National Department of Human Settlements will accept payment by means of the following methods.

·               Cash.

·               Postal orders. Postal Orders must be made payable to THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

·               Revenue stamps.

·               Not-transferable cheques (a clearing period of 10 days must be allowed). Cheques must be made payable to THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS.

The National Department of Human Settlements will, in the case of cash, postal orders and revenue stamps, issue a receipt. In the case of cheques an interim acknowledgement will be issued until such time that the cheque has been cleared, after which a receipt will be issued.

A requester may lodge an Internal Appeal against, or an application with a court, on the payment of fees. (See par 6.4)

7.3             Grounds for refusal of access to a record(s) [Chapter 4 of the Act]

Since the Act does not apply to the following, any requests thereof will be refused:

·               The requested record is a Cabinet record.

·               The requested record is a Cabinet committee record.

·               The requested record is a record of judicial functions of a court.

·               The requested record is a record of a special tribunal.

·               The requested record is a record of a judicial officer

·               The requested record is a record of an individual member of Parliament or Provincial Legislature.

A request may be refused if the requester hasn't complied with all procedural requirements after he/she has been notified of the intention to refuse the request by the Deputy Information Officer.

The Act provides for grounds where access to a record MUST or MAY be refused.

For the purpose of this manual, only the grounds on which access to a record MUST BE REFUSED will be highlighted here.

The Deputy Information Officer MUST, subject to certain provisions, refuse a request for access on the following grounds:

·               Mandatory protection of privacy of a third party who is a natural person, i.e. if its disclosure would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information about a third party, including a deceased individual [Section 34(1)].

·               Mandatory protection of certain records of the South African Revenue Service (SARS), i.e. the Information Officer of SARS must refuse a request to a record of SARS if it contains information that was obtained or is held by SARS for the purposes of enforcing legislation concerning the collection of revenue as defined in section 1 of the South African Revenue Service Act, 1997 (Act 34 of 1997) [Section 35(1)].

·               Mandatory protection of commercial information of third party, i.e. the Deputy Information Officer must refuse a request if the record contains [Section 36(1)]:

o              trade secrets of a third party;

o              financial, commercial, scientific or technical information other than trade secrets of a third party, of which the disclosure could likely cause harm to the commercial or financial interests of that third party; or

o              information supplied in confidence by a third party and the disclosure could put that third party at a disadvantage in contractual or other negotiations, or prejudice that third party in commercial competition.

·               Mandatory protection of certain confidential information of a third party, i.e. the Deputy Information Officer must refuse a request if the disclosure of the record would constitute an action for breach of a duty of confidence owed to a third party in terms of an agreement [Section 37(1)(a)].

·               Mandatory protection of safety of individuals, and protection of property, i.e. the Deputy Information Officer must refuse a request if its disclosure could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of an individual [Section 38(a)].

·               Mandatory protection of police dockets in bail proceedings, and protection of law enforcement and legal proceedings, i.e. the Deputy Information Officer must refuse a request if access to that record is prohibited in terms of section 60 (14) of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (Act 51 of 1977) [Section 39(1)(a)].

·               Mandatory protection of records privileged from production in legal proceedings, i.e. the Deputy Information Officer must refuse a request if the record is privileged from production in legal proceedings unless the person entitled to the privilege has waived the privilege [Section 40].

·               Mandatory protection of research information of third party, and protection of research information of public body, i.e. the Deputy Information Officer must refuse a request if the record contains information about research being or to be carried out by or on behalf of a third party, the disclosure of which would be likely to expose [Section 43(1)]:

o              the third party;

o              a person that is or will be carrying out the research on behalf of the third party; or

o              the subject matter of the research;

to serious disadvantage.

8.                     Remedies available against decisions of the Information Officer [Section 14(1)(h)]

8.1.1       Internal Appeals and Applications to Court [Sections 74-82]

The remedies available against decisions of the Information Officer or Deputy Information Officer on a request for access are:

·               an Internal Appeal, [Section 74 - 77] or

·               an application to court [Section 78 - 82].

'Internal appeal' means an Internal Appeal to the 'Relevant Authority' in terms of section 74 of the Act. In the case of the National Department of Human Settlements, the 'Relevant Authority' is the Minister of Human Settlements or the person designated in writing by the Minister of Human Settlements.

Internal appeal procedures are subject to such a mechanism actually being in place within a public body to facilitate such an Internal Appeal.

A requester, personal requester or third party may lodge an Internal Appeal if he/she is not satisfied with the decision made by the Information Officer or Deputy Information Officer about a request for access.

·               A requester, i.e. personal requester, requester, requester on behalf of someone, may lodge an Internal Appeal against, or an application with a court on the decision(s) of the Information Officer or Deputy Information Officer, re:

o              the extension of the period to deal with a request [Section 26(3)(c]; or

o              the refusal to grant access [Section 25(3)(c)]; or

o              the payment of fees, i.e.:

§               a request fee [Section 22]; or

§               an access fee;

§               a deposit on access fees [Section 22]; or

o              the form of access granted [Section 25 (2)(c)].

·               A third party/parties may only lodge an Internal Appeal against, or an application with a court on the decision(s) of the Information Officer or Deputy Information Officer to:

o              grant a request for access. [Section 49(3)(b)]

For an Internal Appeal to be lodged, a requester, personal requester or third party should/must lodge it within a specific time frame after being notified/informed of the decision of the Deputy Information Officer. The time frames are as follows

·               A requester (i.e. personal requester, requester, requester on behalf of someone), within 60 days that the requester has been informed of a decision.

·               A third party/parties, within 30 days after the third party has been notified that access has been granted.

          Currently no fees are applicable with regard to Internal Appeals.

8.1.2       Internal Appeal Procedures [Section 74-77]

To lodge an Internal Appeal the requester or third party needs to complete the prescribed National Department of Human Settlements "Notice of Internal Appeal" form.

·               The Internal Appeal form is available:

o              As Annex B to this manual (for completion by hand);

o              Downloadable from the National Department of Human Settlements website (http://www.dhs.gov.za) as part of the National Department of Human Settlements PAIA Manual;

o              By requesting it to be forwarded via fax, letter, phone or e-mail from the Deputy Information Officer;

o              By collecting the form at National Department of Human Settlements reception or from the PAIA Centre.

·               The Internal Appeal form can be completed by hand or electronically when it is downloaded from the website.

·               The form must be signed by the appellant.

·               All additional pages of documentation added to the Internal Appeal form must be signed by the appellant.

The completed Internal Appeal form is to be dispatched to the Deputy Information Officer of the National Department of Human Settlements, by:

·               posting it to the postal address provided;

·               delivering it to the PAIA Centre at the physical address; or

·               by faxing it.

It is recommended that the requester keep a copy of the Internal Appeal for his/her own records.

The following actions will result from an Internal Appeal:

·               The Deputy Information Officer must submit the Internal Appeal to the Relevant Authority within 10 working days.

·               The Relevant Authority must inform third party/parties involved as soon as possible, but definitely within 30 days, by the fastest means possible, after receipt of an Internal Appeal lodged by the requester against the refusal to grant access. (PAIA-APP-02)

·               The Relevant Authority must inform the requester involved as soon as possible, but definitely within 30 days, by the fastest means possible, after receipt of an Internal Appeal lodged by the third party/parties against the granting of access. (PAIA-APP-03)

·               The Relevant Authority must decide on the Internal Appeal as soon as possible, but definitely:

o              within 30 days after receiving it from the Deputy Information Officer;

o              within 30 days after a third party or requester has been informed of an Internal Appeal; or

o              within 5 working days after a requester has made written representations on the Internal Appeal by a third party/parties.

·            If knowledge about an Internal Appeal has been obtained by other means than by the Relevant Authority, written or verbal representations should be made to the Relevant Authority on why the request for access should be refused.

·            The Relevant Authority may decide to:

o              confirm the decision appealed against, or

o              to substitute a new decision for it.

·            Immediately after the decision on the Internal Appeal has been made, written notification of the decision will be given to:

o              the appellant; (PAIA-APP-04 or PAIA-APP-06)

o              every third party (if not the appellant); (PAIA-APP-05)

o              the requester (if not the appellant) (PAIA-APP-05).

8.1.3          Application to Court Procedures [Section 78-82]

An application may only be lodged with:

·               the Constitutional Court;

·               a High Court or another court of similar status; or

·               a Magistrate's Court presided over by a magistrate designated in writing by the Minister of Justice.

A requester, personal requester or third party may only apply to a court after he/she has exhausted the Internal Appeal procedures.

A requester, personal requester or third party may, within 30 days, by way of an application, apply to a court for appropriate relief.

A requester or personal requester may apply to a court on the following grounds:

·               being unsuccessful in an Internal Appeal to the Relevant Authority, including Internal Appeals where the Relevant Authority failed to give notice within the stipulated time period; 

·               the decision of the Relevant Authority to disallow the lodging of a late Internal Appeal;

·               the decision of the Deputy Information Officer to refuse a request for access;

·               the decision taken regarding the payment of a request fee, an access fee, or a deposit on an access fee; or

·               the decision taken regarding access being granted in a different form than requested.

A third party may apply to a court on the following grounds:

·               being unsuccessful in an Internal Appeal to the Relevant Authority, including Internal Appeals where the Relevant Authority failed to give notice within the stipulated time period;

·               the decision of the Deputy Information Officer to grant a request for access;

·               the decision of the Deputy Information Officer to refuse a request for access;

·               the decision taken regarding the payment of a request fee, an access fee, or a deposit on an access fee; or

·               the decision taken regarding access being granted in a different form than requested.

The court may grant any order that is just and equitable, including orders:

·               to confirm, amend or set aside the decision of the Internal Appeal;

·               that the Information Officer, Deputy Information Officer or Relevant Authority take action or refrain from taking action within a period mentioned in the order;

·               to grant an interdict;

·               to grant an interim or specific relief;

·               to grant a declaratory order compensation;

·               as to costs.

8.1.4        Complaints to the Public Protector [Section 91]

In terms of section 6(4)(d) of the Public Protector Act, as amended, the Public Protector is competent to investigate on his or her initiative or on receipt of a complaint or on request relating to the operation or administration of PAIA, endeavour, in his /her sole discretion, to resolve any dispute by mediation, conciliation or negotiation, and advising any complainant on appropriate remedies or by any other means.

9.                Other information as prescribed in terms of the Act

9.1             Updating of the Manual [Section 14(2)

The National Department of Human Settlements manual will be updated once a year in March, except in the case of major changes.

9.2             Availability and Language of the Manual [Section 14(1) and (3)]

9.2.1       Language

In terms of Regulation No R. 187 of 15 February 2002, section 4 (1), the National Department of Human Settlements manual is available in the following languages, to be published in the Government Gazette:

·               English.

·               The other two languages still to be decided.

9.2.2       Availability

In terms of Regulation No R. 187 of 15 February 2002, section 4 (1), the National Department of Human Settlements manual is available with:

·               The National Department of Human Settlements

A copy of the manual in the official English is available at the National Department of Human Settlements (PAIA Centre) for public inspection during office hours. No fees will be charged for the public inspection of the manual, but for a copy or part thereof the fees as described in the paragraph on fees, will be charged.

·               The National Department of Human Settlements website: http://www.dhs.gov.za

·               Places of legal deposit:

o              Bloemfontein Public Library

o              Library of Parliament, Cape Town

o              Natal Society Library, Pietermaritzburg

o              National Library of South African, Cape Town Division

o              National Library South Africa, Pretoria Division

·               The Human Rights Commission

·               Government Gazette

Once the South African Human Rights Commission has approved the PAIA manual of the National Department of Human Settlements, it will be submitted for printing in the Government Gazette. This paragraph will then be updated with the applicable Government Gazette reference.

9.3             Request to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development for the compilation of one Manual [Section 14(4)]

This section is not applicable to the National Department of Human Settlements.

9.4             Exemption by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development  [Section 14(5)]

No exemption from any provision of section 14, for a determined period, has been obtained by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.

10.           References and Acknowledgements

This manual has been drafted in accordance with:

·               The guidelines as provided in the Blueprint for public bodies for the manual in terms of section 14 drafted by the South African Human Rights Commission

·               The Promotion of Access to Information Act, Act 2 of 2000.

·               The Regulations regarding the Promotion of Access to Information, No R 187, 15 February 2002.

·               The Resource Manual: Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000. Prepared by the Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC) and the Research Unit for Law and Administration (RULA) for the South African Human Rights Commission.

·               Wessels, J.H. Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000. Pretoria: Justice College. February 2002.

·               National Department of Human Settlements documentation.

·               National Department of Human Settlements website. www.dhs.gov.za.

A special word of thanks goes to Advocate J.H. Wessels from the Department of Justice and Ms Wlodarski from the South African Human Rights Commission for their support in providing input to compile this Manual.

Manual Last Updated: 13 December 2011