Introduction

The Promortion of Access to Information Act, 2 of 200 ("The Act"), which came into effect on the 9th of March 2001, seeks to advance the values of transparency and accountability in South Africa.

The 1996 south African Constitution by providing a statutory right of access on request to any record held by the state as well as access to records held by private bodies entrenches the fundamental right to information.

The Act establishes the following statuory rights of requestors to any record of a private body if the following circumstances are met:
• if the record is required for the exercise or protection of any of his or her legal rights
• the requestor complies with all the procedural requirements; and
• the access is not refused in terms of any ground referred to in Act

Section 51 of the Act obliges private bodies to compile a Manual. The purpose of the manual is to assist an individual to obtain access to the records of a private body and the Act stipulates the minimum requirements with which a manual has to comply.


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