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Having people know what goes on strengthens democracySouth Africa is often cited for having the first substantive access to information law in Africa, the Promotion of Access to Information Act, of 2000 (PAIA). The PAIA gives effect to the constitutional right to know, also known as freedom of information or access to information. This refers particularly to access to information held by the state and any information that is held by another person and which is required for the exercise or protection of any rights. One of the major reasons South Africa embraced an access to information enabling environment is that prior to April 27, 1994 a secretive and unresponsive culture in public and private bodies had taken root, leading to a national climate of abuse of power and human rights violations. The PAIA's main goal is thus to foster a culture of transparency and accountability by enabling the right to access to information. The right to access to information is so important that without its recognition and practice, it is impossible to realise the civil, political, social and economic rights within
According to best practice standards, there are six main pillars guiding benefits of an effective access to information culture and ethos. The right to know strengthens democracy. Democracy is enhanced when people meaningfully engage with their institutions of governance and form their judgments on the basis of facts and evidence, rather than empty promises and political slogans. In fact, the foundation of democracy is an informed constituency - informed about the people they elect and their activities while in government. Participatory development takes place when people are taken in and not closed out. Development should not be owned by governments and donors only; it should be owned primarily by the people. For people to claim their right to development and determine development road maps, they need to be empowered through relevant and open information. Appropriate information assists communities to put development that has lost its way back on track. When people are left out of development processes to address their basic needs, they use violence to claim that right to be involved so as to know and be leaders of their own destinies. By increasing transparency through opening public and private decision- making processes to scrutiny, the right to information is a proven anti-corruption tool. To this extent, when there is a choice between maximum and minimum disclosure, maximum disclosure overrides secrecy. Systems that allow people to be part of and to personally scrutinise decision- making processes reduce citizens' feelings of powerlessness and weaken perceptions of unfair advantage of one group over another. By reducing conflict, the right to know facilitates economic and human peaceful development. Our municipalities stand to benefit through promoting pro-active disclosure especially on matters such as their structure, norms, functioning, documents they hold, their finances and activities. Such pro-active disclosure is encouraged in over 150 countries with access to information laws worldwide because the public has a right to be provided with basic information automatically without having to spend their own time and money requesting it. One of the key tests of effective access to information practice is the ease, inexpensiveness, and promptness with which people seeking information are able to obtain it.
* Titus Moetsabi is head of FXI Access to Information. |