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The method of request and appeal is legislated, so I dont think you need to include it, but you can if you wish. As long as there is a contact name and number you should be fine. Personally, I doubt that these are actually read or checked at the SAHRC, just filed.

Best regards

Craig Thom
www.netbooks.co.za
+27 21 551 4248

Netbooks is a member of the SA Book Dealers Association

"Outside a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside a dog, it's too dark to read."
—Groucho Marx


On 12/14/2011 8:16 AM, [email protected] wrote:
Hi both, all of that appears to be simple, however do we not need to say how 
people may request information from us and what they can do if we say no, they 
cannot have the information-or is that only for public entities ? Meredith
Regards Meredith Kempthorne, Tall Stories. Sent from my BlackBerry®

-----Original Message-----
From: Craig<[email protected]>
Sender: [email protected]
Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2011 07:54:26
To:<[email protected]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [booklink-list] PAIA  compliance.

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Hi
This is a very simple document, and a template is available free on
SAHRC website.
The examples of public companies are very complex, but a sole proprietor
or CC is basic.

Fill it in, make a copy for yourself and send the original by registered
mail to the SAHRC.
Accountants are charging R500 to R1000 for what is a very simple process.

btw. I would rather be worried about the VAT man, as I noticed in
dealing with book stores is that many are not registered for VAT, and I
am sure that their turnover exceeeds that required to register.

Best regards

Craig Thom
www.netbooks.co.za
+27 21 551 4248

Netbooks is a member of the SA Book Dealers Association

"Outside a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside a dog, it's too dark to read."
—Groucho Marx


On 12/13/2011 7:59 PM, Tall Stories wrote:
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Dear  Colleagues,

Unfortunately  I  am  the  bearer  of  fairly  bad  news  in  the
form  of   PAIA.

"The Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) was  formulated to
give effect to the right of access to information as enshrined in the
Constitution. Its  intention  is  to  foster a culture of transparency
and accountability in public and private bodies by giving effect to
the right of access to information.......", or  so  the  Eskom
manual, available  online  tells  me. Basically  what  that  means
is  we  have  to  state  what  records  we  keep  regarding  our
business  and  how  the  public  may  request  access  to  these
records  and  what  their  recourse  to  action  is  if  you  deny
them  access  and  submit  all  of  that  information  to  the
SAHRC........if  I  understand  the  requirements  correctly.

I  am  not  an  expert  on  PAIA  by  any  stretch  of  the
imagination, however, I  will  share  the  information  I  have
managed  to  glean  to  far  with  you  as  this  affects  all  of
you. Listening  to  discussions  on  the  radio  and  following  the
social  networks, I  gather  that  everyone, hawkers,
garage-operations, doctors, internet traders, flea  market  traders,
everyone  needs  to  submit  a  manual  of  their  business
operations  to  the   South  African  Human  Resources  Commission
(SAHRC) by  the  31st  of  December.

According  to  the  SAHRC  website :

"The legislation defines private bodies (juristic persons) as:

a)   A natural person who carries or has carried on any trade,
business or profession, but only in       such capacity
b)   A partnership which carries or has carried on any trade, business
or profession or
c)   Any former or existing juristic person, but excludes a public body

Juristic persons will therefore include close corporations, non-profit
organizations and trusts.

Please also note that holding companies and each of their entities or
subsidiaries must submit separate manuals for each entity respectively.

In terms of section 51 of PAIA, the head of a private body must :

compile a section 51 manual which is a road map of the company

submit the manual to the South African Human Rights Commission

effect material changes if any each time these occur and resubmit to
the SAHRC, electronic submissions to the Commission are accepted, sent
to [email protected] thereafter followed by hard copy originals;
manuals must be submitted to SAHRC head office at the address listed
below

update any material changes on the manual on a regular basis;

make the manual available as prescribed by the Act at the company
offices and on their website;

must  annex a request form to the manual and  also make request form
available on the    website and at the company premises access points;

there are penalties for non compliance -- please see section 90 of
PAIA, the Commission has not imposed fines for non compliance to date
but reserves the right to do.

The manual must among others contain the following information :

details of the company's postal, email and street address, fax and
phone of the company,

the description of available records generated by the company stating
those which are automatically available and those that are available
on request.

outline the request procedure in terms of PAIA;

state who the head of the company is (CEO is usually the  Information
Officer in terms of PAIA)

stipulate the fees applicable as legislated by the Act which are
chargeable to "requesters"

remedies available to requesters if their request for information has
been refused

details facilitating request for access to a record etc. "


NO FEES are payable to the Commission for submission of your manual.

Apparently  this  legislation  was  signed  into  being  in  2005  by
Brigitte  Mabandla. Public  companies  have  already  complied   and
exemptions  to  private  bodies  were  extended  until  31st  of
December  2011. The  exemption  period  is  about  to  expire  and
each  of  us  has  to  make  a  submission  to  the  SAHRC.

Examples  of  these  manuals  submitted  by  public  companies  can
be  found  on  the  web. I  manged  to  find, Virginactive, Truworths
&  Eskom.

The  example  from  the  SAHRC  for  a  manual  to  be  submitted
from  a  private  body   is  at  this  address  :
http://www.sahrc.org.za/home/21/files/Useful%20pointers%20to%20compiling%20a%20section%2051%20guide.pdf

So  far   the imposition of penalties in terms of PAIA have not been
acted on by any party, however, there  has  not  been  any
discussion  so  far  about  a  further  extension  of  the  deadline.
If  I  remember  correctly, fines  could  be  up  to  R15  000  for
failure  to  submit.........however, I  could  be  mistaken  here&
so  far  no  one has  be  fined.

Further  information  as  to  the  manual  can  be  found  on  the
SAHRC  website :
http://www.sahrc.org.za/home/index.php?ipkContentID=70&ipkMenuID=51

Bruce  Whitfield, from  Radio  702  interviewed  someone  from  the
SAHRC  tonight  regarding  these  submissions. I  gather  that  the
interview  will  be  podcast. Keep watching  this  page :
http://www.702.co.za/podcast/podcast_TheWorldatSix.asp
The  podcast  should  be  available  tomorrow  and  if  anyone  has
trouble  finding  it, I  will  assist  you.

Addresses  and  phone  numbers  for  the  SAHRC  are  as  follows :

For all queries from the 19th December 2011 until the 21st December
2011 please contact Schalk Van Rensburg -             011 877 3642
[email protected]

David Malesa -             011 877 3678
[email protected]

For all queries from the 22rd December 2011 until the 23rd December
2011 please contact Foaad Moola -             011 877 3769
[email protected]

For all queries on the 3rd January 2012 please contact Foaad Moola
-             011 877 3769
[email protected]

For all queries from the 4th January 2012 please contact

Foaad Moola -             011 877 3769
[email protected]

Schalk Van Rensburg -             011 877 3642
[email protected]

David Malesa -             011 877 3678
[email protected]


PLEASE TAKE NOTE THE COMMISSION WILL BE CLOSED FROM THE 27th of
December 2011 to the 2nd of January 2012. The Commission will reopen
from the 3rd of January 2012

I  have  a  headache  just  thinking  about  this. I  will  try  to
assist  or  answer  as  many  queries  as  I  can, however, I  am
really  not  an  expert  in  this  field. This  has  taken  me
completely  by  surprise.
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