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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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