PAIA gives you the right of access to:
Any information held by the State; and
Any information that is held by another person and that is required for the
exercise or protection of any rights.
This means you can request access to information held by Department of Correctional
Services as a public body, as well as from a natural or juristic person (private
body). In the case of a request for access to information held by a natural or juristic
person, you have to indicate that the information requested is required for the
exercise or protection of any rights.
Once you have identified the information / record you want / need, you must:
Complete Form A
Submit form A to the DCS Information Officer or Deputy Information Officer either
by post / physical address, fax number or electronic mail address together with
the request fee of R35 00 paid at every DCS Control Financial Offices (CFO). A request
fee is not required to be paid, if it relates to personal information about you
(personal requester), the fee is paid if you’re requesting information on behalf
of someone else.
The Information Officer is the National Commissioner in terms of part 1 of the Act
(PAIA) and the Deputy Information Officers are the Chief Deputy Commissioners and
Regional Commissioners appointed by the National Commissioner.
The Information Officer or Deputy Information Officer has a period of 30 calendar
days within which he/she must respond to your request. Under certain circumstances,
the information officer may extend the 30-day period once only, and for a further
period of 30 days. Example: If the request is for a large number of records or requires
a search through a large number of records and compliance with the original period
would unreasonably interfere with the activities of the department. See section
26 (1)(a) of PAIA.
You will be informed by the Information Officer or Deputy Information Officer in
writing of the decision whether to grant your request or not.
PAIA balances your right of access to information against the right of the Department
of Correctional Services as a public body to protect certain information. Thus PAIA
allows the information officer, the right to refuse your request for information
in
certain circumstances (Grounds for refusal). If, for example, the Information
Officer decides that the information you have requested relates to the trade secrets
of a third party which are not publicly available, he / she must refuse your request.
If an Information Officer of the department has refused your request for
information; you can bring an internal appeal against the decision of the
Information Officer with the relevant authority (Minister of Correctional
Services). In order to do this, you must complete
Form B.
In the case of any other public body which has refused your request, you must apply
to court for relief.
You may apply to court against the unsuccessful internal appeal to the relevant
authority. You may also apply to court if you are:
Aggrieved by the decision
of the Information Officer to disallow the late lodging of an internal appeal;
Aggrieved by the decision of the relevant authority of a public body, other than;
Aggrieved by the decision of an Information Officer relating to fees required
to be paid, the extension of the period within which to deal with the request or
the form of access in which the information will be furnished.
The Information Officer or Deputy Information Officer will inform you in writing
of his / her decision to grant your request for access, and will advise you of the
access fee to be paid. The access fee is usually the cost for making a copy of the
information requested, in a specific form and for the time spent searching for the
information.