From CompliNEWS | Financial Service Intelligence Watch

Regulator urges public sector to submit PAIA reports

The Information Regulator (IR) has raised concern that the public sector is not submitting their Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) section 32 Annual Reports, which contain information including the number of requests for access to information received, denied, internal appeals, and more. A Cape Times report notes that IR CEO Mosalanyane Mosala highlighted this as a challenge while speaking at the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) Symposium 2024 in Pretoria. ‘We have more private sector reports than that of the public sector reports submitted. This is a huge challenge and as we celebrate this day the objective is also to hone in on the public sector and the record keeping challenges they face,’ Mosala said. IDUAI, commonly known as the Right to Information Day, is observed globally on 28 September as proclaimed by the 74th UN General Assembly in October 2019.

The day supports the idea that everyone has the fundamental right to seek and receive information. When public bodies do not submit their PAIA Annual Reports, the IR said it impedes on their ability to monitor compliance with PAIA. Business leader from the Auditor-General SA, Dumisani Cebekhulu, spoke about the status of internal controls regarding record keeping and their audit implications, also highlighting that from the audit side the lack of non-compliance is concerning. ‘There’s a lot that still needs to be done when it comes information management and access to information,’ he said.

Read the Full Cape Times report here