City awarded for promoting the right to access to information

In continuing with their policy of actions following words, rather than just hot air, the City of Cape Town has been acknowledged by government for it's efforts in complying with the 2000 Promotion of Access to Information Act 2. The achnowlegdement came in the form of two awards at the recent Golden Key Awards ceremony in Johannesburg, the first was for Best Municipality and Best Deputy Information Officer.

Source: City of Cape Town

The City of Cape Town has won two national awards at the annual Golden Key Awards ceremony, which is administered and hosted by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and the Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC).

The awards are given to public institutions that demonstrate best practise in complying with the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA). The PAIA was enacted in 1996 to promote transparency, accountability, informed public participation and respect for human rights in public and private organisations. The key symbol represents the openness and transparency that the act promotes.

The award ceremony was held at the Emoyeni Conference Centre in Johannesburg. The City won the Best Municipality Award and the Best Deputy Information Officer Award in the Local Government category.

The Best Municipality Award was received for having the best strategy in the implementation of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000. The City’s nomination was based on its integrated approach that includes:

• The City Manager’s decision to centralise access to information within the Legal Services Department
• benchmarking the City against other public institutions
• a continuous review of internal processes and systems
• the use of the City website to provide access to information
• provision of free access to the internet (an initiative of Smartcape via City Libraries)
• the implementation of the Electronic Document and Records Management Systems
• the implementation of the C3 notification complaints system.

Although the awards began in 2006, this year marks the first time that a Local Government category has been assessed separately from the National and Provincial Government and Public Entities of National and Provincial government

Martin Pollack