Roles, terms and definitions related to the Act [Chapter 1 Definitions and Interpretations]

1.                Introduction

The Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), Act 2 of 2000 (hereafter also called the Act) came into effect on 9 March 2001, underlining the importance of access to information for an open, democratic, transparent society. The Act gives legislative form to section 32 of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution and should be interpreted as legislation giving effect to a constitutional right. This right states:

            Access to information

            32 (1)    Everyone has the right of access to:

(a)                 any information held by the state; and

(b)                any information that is held by another person and that is required for the exercise of any rights.

(2)  National legislation must be enacted to give effect to this right, and may provide for reasonable measures to alleviate the administrative and financial burden on the state.

The objectives of PAIA are thus:

·               to give effect to the constitutional right of access to any information as stated above;

·               to set out justifiable limitations on the right of access to information aimed at protecting people's privacy, confidential commercial information and ensuring effective, efficient and good governance;

·               to balance the right of access to information with all the other rights in the constitution;

·               to promote a culture of human rights and social justice;

·               to establish mechanisms and procedures to enable persons to obtain access to records as swiftly, inexpensively and effortlessly as is reasonably possible;

·               to promote transparency, accountability and effective governance;

·               to empower and educate everyone to:

o              understand their rights in terms of the Act;

o              understand the functions and operation of public bodies; and

o              effectively scrutinise and participate in decision-making by public bodies that affects their rights.

This act overrides any other Acts or Regulations restricting access to records, except in the following cases (Section 5, 6, 12):

·               Act 107 of 1998, National Environmental Management Act, 1998, [Section 31(1) and 31(2)];

·              All records of the Cabinet and its committees, judicial functions of a court, special tribunal, or judicial officer or an individual member of Parliament or Provincial Legislature.

2.                Human Rights Commission Guide on how to use the Act [Section 14(1)(c)]

It is the responsibility of the South African Human Rights Commission to compile a guide, in an easily comprehensible form and manner, as may be required by a person who wishes to exercise any right contemplated in the Act.

This guide will be made available in all the official languages and be available from the South African Human Rights Commission by not later than August 2003.

Any enquiries regarding this guide should be directed to:

3.                National Department of Housing Manual

The purpose of this manual is to inform a person how to obtain access to records held by the National Department of Housing, giving effect to Section 14 of the Act.

4.                Information Officer, Deputy Information Officers [Section 14(1)(b)]

In terms of the Act the Director General of the National Department of Housing is the Information Officer and she delegated her power and duties by designating the following personnel to act as the Information Officer and Deputy Information Officers respectively:

 All PAIA issues will be dealt with by the PAIA Centre.

5.                Structure and functions of the National Department of Housing [Section 14(1)(f)]

 5.2             Functions of the National Department of Housing

5.2.1       The vision and mission of the National Department of Housing

5.2.2       The roles and functions of the National Department of Housing

The primary role of national government is to “establish and facilitate a sustainable housing development process” after consultation with the nine MECs for Housing, and the national organisation representing municipalities (South African Local Government Association, SALGA).

a.            Broad Functions described in the Housing Code

"In order to facilitate and establish a sustainable national housing development process, national government, acting through the Minister of Housing, must carry out a number of key functions.  These functions are as follows:

1.                   Policy: Determines national policy, including norms and standards, in respect of housing development;

2.                   Goals: Sets broad national housing delivery goals; facilitates the setting of provincial housing delivery goals; and, where appropriate, facilitates the setting of housing delivery goals of a municipality;

3.                   Performance monitoring: Monitors the performance of the housing sector against housing delivery goals and performance indicators, in co- operation with every MEC;

4.                   Capacity support:

a.       Assists provinces to develop their administrative capacity;

b.       Supports and strengthens the capacity of municipalities to manage their own affairs, to exercise their powers and perform their duties in respect of housing development;

5.                   Consultation: Promotes consultation on matters regarding housing development between national government and representatives of civil society, the sectors and subsectors supplying or financing housing goods and services, provincial government and municipalities and any other stakeholder in housing development;

6.                  Communication: Promotes effective communication in respect of housing development."

b.           Functions

In addition to the above broad functions and in support thereof, the Minister of Housing undertakes the following:

·                     To establish a national institutional and funding framework for housing development;

·                     To negotiate the apportionment of the State budget for housing development purposes;

·                     To allocate funds for national housing programmes to provincial governments;

·                     To prepare and maintain a multi-year housing development plan;

·                     To establish and finance national institutions for purposes of housing development;

·                     To evaluate the performance of the housing sector; and

·                     To take steps reasonably necessary to create an environment conducive to enable all role players and individuals to achieve their respective goals in respect of housing development.

Further detail on the functions on directorate level can be obtained from the National Department of Housing website: http://www.housing.gov.za

5.3            National Department of Housing services available to members of the public [Section 14(1)(f)]

5.3.1       Nature of services

The primary service that the department provides is the establishment and maintenance of a policy and legislative framework required for the facilitation of a sustainable national housing development process. This objective culminated in the introduction of the Housing Act, 1997 (Act No. 107 of 1997), the facilitation of a focussed institutional framework and the National Housing Programmes that direct and govern the Government’s housing assistance and support programmes. The department also facilitates the apportionment of the annual housing allocation to the nine provincial governments for the execution and funding of the National Housing Programmes and Provincial Housing Programmes that are consistent with National Housing Policy.

Housing development realises within a structured and planned regime and is executed by provincial governments and municipalities. The decision-making power regarding National Housing Programmes vests in the members of the Executive Councils responsible for housing of the nine provincial governments.

Municipalities may also apply to the MEC for accreditation to administer National Housing Programmes and, if successful, it will assume the decision-making power in respect of the National Housing Programmes.

In addition to the role provincial governments and municipalities play in regard to housing development, government has established the following national institutions to facilitate the specific housing and housing-related needs of the market:

·               The National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC)

The NHBRC is responsible for the protection of housing consumers by providing a warranty protection against defects in new houses. It furthermore regulates the building industry by facilitating the registration of builders with the NHBRC and by governing the technical norms and standards for house construction with the objective to improve quality in the interests of consumers. All houses to be constructed must be registered at the NHBRC, and the council will in return provide specific services to the industry and consumers.

·               The National Urban and Reconstruction Agency (NURCHA)

NURCHA is primarily responsible for the provision of bridging-finance guarantees to contractors, end-user finance guarantees to assist people in the lowest income categories to access housing credit, and capacity-building grants to communities to facilitate community development. The institution is also responsible for a national savings scheme that assists low-income persons to save towards the goal of gearing their housing-subsidy funding.

·               The National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) 

This institution is a development-finance institution with the main goal of providing housing credit on a sustainable manner to low-income earners. To this end the NHFC undertakes to fund intermediaries to promote broader access to housing, to build adequate and sustainable capacity within the organisations it funds, and to enter into partnerships to pioneer new finance-delivery approaches.

The institution focuses on debt finance where it makes loans available to established housing institutions, non-bank lenders and banks for lending to poor households. It also undertakes equity finance through the provision of financial-gearing capacity to social housing institutions and non-banks. The capacity-building objective is realised through assistance to emerging and new institutions to enable then to fully participate in the market.

·               The Social Housing Foundation (SHF)

The SHF focuses on support for the social housing-institution market. This is achieved by providing training, advice and technical support to emerging and established social-housing institutions. It also assists the Minister in the development of appropriate policy and strategy in respect of the social-housing dimension. The SHF also facilitates access to donor funding for the social-housing initiative.

·               SERVCON Housing Solutions (Pty) Ltd

This institution was established as part of the joint venture between the banks and the government to deal with specific non-performing loans and properties in possession of banks due to defaulting loans, and the abnormality of the South African housing-credit market that existed in 1994. SERVCON assists identified defaulting beneficiaries with the rescheduling of their existing loans, or where affordability dictates to relocate to alternative affordable housing opportunities. Linked to this initiative, a separate delivery institution was created referred to as Thubelisha Homes that undertakes the construction of right-sized housing units.

5.3.2       How to gain access to services

To gain access to the services at the National Department of Housing, requests must be made to the Director General of this Department

5.4             Arrangements/provisions allowing for a person to be involved in the formulation of policy and/or the exercise of powers of the National Department of Housing [Section 14(1)(g)]

Na