PART I INTRODUCTORY PROVISIONS Definitions 1. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise indicates - "access fee" means a fee prescribed in accordance with the provisions of section 22; "appeal" means an appeal lodged with an Information Court under section 99; "application" means an application lodged with an Information Court under section 100; "Commission" means the Open Democracy Commission established by section 118; "complaint" means a complaint lodged with the Public Protector under section 91; "contravention", in relation to any provision, includes any failure to comply with the provision, and "contravene" has a corresponding meaning; "emergency meeting" means a meeting called because of circumstances that, in the reasonable opinion of the governing body concerned, require immediate consideration by the body and [it is not possible] that make it impractical to give notice of the meeting as required for a special meeting in terms of section 59; "governing body" means - (a) a governmental body or a division thereof (including a body contemplated in subsection (2)); or (b) a body which exercises a power or performs a duty delegated or assigned to the body by a governing body contemplated in paragraph (a), in the form of a board, council, committee, commission or similar body, which consists of two or more members and for which a quorum is required in order to take a decision, but excludes the Cabinet and judicial organs; "governmental body" means -_ (a) a legislative, executive or judicial organ of state (including a statutory body) at national, provincial or local level of government and includes, without limiting the generality of the foregoing - (i) the Constitutional Assembly, the National Assembly, the Senate, a provincial legislature and the council of a local government body; (ii) the Office of - (aa) the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly; (bb) the President and Deputy President of the Senate; (cc) the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the Constitutional Assembly; and (dd) the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of a provincial legislature; (iii) the Cabinet, the executive council of a province and the executive committee of a local government body; (iv) a Ministry and an office of a member of the executive council of a province or of the executive committee of a local government body; (v) a department or organisational component mentioned in Schedules 1 and 2 to the Public Service Act, 1994 (Proclamation No. 103 of 1994), respectively; (vi) the National Intelligence Agency and the South African Secret Service established by section 3 of the Intelligence Services Act, 1994 (Act No. 38 of 1994) and the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee established by section 4 of the National Strategic Intelligence Act, 1994 (Act No. 39 of 1994); (vii) the Office of the Auditor-General; (viii) the Office of an Attorney-General; (ix) the South African Reserve Bank; (x) a board, committee, company, commission, corporation, council, fund, institution, organisation or other body - (aa) established or constituted by or under any law and of which the accounts and financial statements are required to be audited by the Auditor-General; (bb) of which the majority of the members are appointed, whether alone or on the advice or recommendation of, or in or after consultation with some other person or body, by the President, an Executive Deputy President, a Minister, the Premier of a province, a member of the Executive Council of a province or of the Council of a local government body, another governmental body, or more than one of those authorities; or (cc) in which the State, a province or a local government body is the majority or controlling shareholder; (xi) a public entity as defined in section 1 of the Reporting by Public Entities Act, 1992 (Act No. 93 of 1992); and (xii) any other body insofar as it exercises a function on behalf of a government body; or (b) any commission, council or house established by or under the Constitution, but excludes the Office of the Public Protector and of a provincial public protector; "guide" means the latest guide published by the Commission in terms of section 4; "guideline" means any manual, circular letter or other record which describes, consists of or contains instructions or guidance on - (a) objectives to be pursued; (b) procedures to be followed; (c) the rules, criteria or precedents to be applied; or ([b]d) the interpretation of any relevant statutory or other provision, in [connection with] the administration, application or enforcement of a provision of a law; "head of a governmental body" means - (a) in the case of a department or organisational component mentioned in Schedule 1 or 2 to the Public Service Act, 1994 (Proclamation No. 103 of 1994), the officer who is the incumbent of the post bearing the designation mentioned in the second column of the said Schedule 1 or 2 opposite the name of the relevant department or organisational component, respectively, or the officer who is acting as such; (b) in the case of any other governmental body, the chief executive officer of the governmental body or the person who is acting as such; "health practitioner" means a person who carries on, and is registered under a law to carry on, an occupation which involves the provision of care or treatment for the physical or mental health of individuals or for their well-being, and includes, without limiting the generality of the foregoing - (a) a medical practitioner; (b) a psychiatrist; (c) a psychologist; and (d) a social worker; "information officer", in relation to - (a) a governmental body, means [an] the official designated as information officer of a governmental body in terms of section 117(1); or (b) a governing body, means the information officer contemplated in section 117(4); "Information Court" means an Information Court established by section 98; "internal appeal" means an internal appeal lodged with the head of a governmental body under section 84; "international organisation" means an international organisation - (a) of states; or (b) established by the governments of states; "law", "a law", "any law", "other law" or "laws" include the common law; "meeting" means any discussion or decision, by a quorum of members of a governing body (whether or not any other person is participating in the deliberation), about any matter within the jurisdiction of such governing body, or about any matter which a majority of such a quorum believes to be within the jurisdiction of such governing body, or a portion of such meeting; "notice" means notice in writing, and "notify" shall be construed accordingly; "official", in relation to a governmental body, means any person in the employ (permanently or temporarily and full-time or part-time) of the governmental body (including the head of the body[, a member of a governing body and an independent contractor engaged by the body]) in his or her capacity as such; "ordinary meeting" means a meeting scheduled for a calendar year before the beginning of the calender year; "organ", in relation to a governmental body, means any official of the governmental body or a body contemplated in subsection (2); "personal information" means information about an identifiable individual; "personal information bank" means a collection or compilation of personal information that is organised or capable of being retrieved using an individual's name or an identifying number or other particular assigned to the individual; "prescribed" means prescribed by regulation under section 126; "private body" means a juristic person other than a governmental body and includes a partnership, but excludes a natural person; "Public Protector" means a person appointed as such in terms of section 110(2) of the Constitution; "public safety risk" includes the risk or potential risk to the public (including persons in their place of work) associated with - (a) any product which is offered for sale or otherwise available to the public; (b) any substance which is released into the environment or workplace or is present in food for human or animal consumption; (c) any form of public transport; or (d) any installation or manufacturing process or substance used therein; "quorum" means a simple majority of a governing body unless otherwise provided by a law applicable to the governing body; "record" means - (a) any information and the means by which it is recorded, whether - (i) on paper, parchment or vellum or in the form of charts, plans, maps, drawings or diagrams; (ii) in volumes, files or scrolls; or (iii) on punched cards, punched tapes, magnetic tapes, compact disks, computer disks or diskettes or other machine or computer readable information storage devices, photographs or negatives thereof, cinematograph films, videotape, microfilm, gramophone or sound recordings; (b) a copy or other reproduction of such information and the means by which it is recorded; (c) a record which does not exist but can - (i) by using computer equipment (whether hardware or software or both) and expertise ordinarily available to the governmental body; or (ii) without unreasonably interfering with the other responsibilities of the governmental body, be produced by computer equipment (whether hardware or software or both); or (d) a part of a record contemplated in paragraph (a), (b) or (c); "record", in relation to - (a) a governmental body, means a record in the possession or under the control of the governmental body or of an official of the body; (b) a private body, means a record in the possession or under the control of the private body or of any person in the employ of the body, including the chief executive officer of the private body, (permanently or temporarily and full-time or part-time), in his or her capacity as such, whether or not it was created by the body and whether or not it was created before or after the commencement of this Act; "registrar" means the registrar or an assistant registrar of an Information Court contemplated in section 98(3); "request", in relation to - (a) access to a record, means a request made under section 10; or (b) the correction of personal information, a request made under section [25] 49B or 49C, and "requester" has a corresponding meaning; "special meeting" means a meeting other than an ordinary or emergency meeting; "third party" means any person, other than the requester and a governmental body; "this Act" includes the regulations; and "transfer" or "transferred", in relation to a record, means transferred in accordance with section 13. (2) For the purposes of this Act, a board, council, committee, commission or other body - (a) established by or under a law; or (b) wholly or partly constituted by appointment made by the President, an Executive Deputy President, a Minister, the Premier of a province, a member of the Executive Council of a province or of the Council of a local government body, a governmental body, or more than one of those executive authorities, to manage or administer any of the operations of, perform any function of, or advise or assist, a governmental body shall not be a governmental body, but shall be deemed to be comprised within that governmental body. (3) For the purposes of this Act, a member of a governing body and an independent contractor engaged by a governmental body in the course and scope of that engagement shall be deemed to be an official of the governmental body concerned. (4) Where in this Act a functionary is required to take a decision in consultation with another functionary, such decision shall require the concurrence of such other functionary: Provided that if such other functionary is a juristic person it shall express its concurrence in accordance with its own decision-making procedures. ([4]5) Where in this Act a functionary is required to take a decision after consultation with another functionary, such decision shall be taken in good faith after consulting and giving serious consideration to the views of such other functionary. Objects of Act 2. The objects of this Act are - (a) to give the public a right of access to information held by governmental bodies, so far as that can be done without jeopardising good governance, personal privacy and commercial[ly] confidentiality; (b) to make available information that will assist the public to understand what the functions of governmental bodies are, how they operate and what criteria they use to make decisions; (c) to give individuals - (i) a strong[er] right[s] of access to information held by governmental bodies about themselves; (ii) a right of access to information held by private bodies about themselves; and (iii) the right to bring about the correction of personal information held by governmental or private bodies if inaccurate; (d) to protect individuals against abuse of information held by governmental or private bodies about themselves; (e) to give the public access to deliberative proceedings of important decision-making bodies; (f) to protect persons who disclose contraventions of the law, serious maladministration or corruption in governmental bodies; (g) generally, to empower the public effectively to scrutinise governmental decision-making, to promote open and accountable administration at all levels of government and to empower individuals to participate in governmental decision-making processes that [e]affect them. Interpretation and application of Act 3. This Act shall be interpreted and applied, any discretion that it confers shall be exercised, and any doubt on a question of law or fact arising in the taking of any decision under this Act shall be resolved so as to give maximum possible effect to the objects stated in section 2, and, in particular, to give the maximum possible access to records of governmental bodies as fast, cheaply and easily as reasonably possible, and to meetings of governing bodies.