Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom
Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom
Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom
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e supplied during <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> World Cup.<br />
However, in our experience, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
most frequent users of PAIA are civil<br />
society groups who want to access<br />
informati<strong>on</strong> in order to support <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir<br />
campaigns — such as for efficient<br />
delivery of public services, socioec<strong>on</strong>omic<br />
development and public<br />
participati<strong>on</strong> in policy development.<br />
South African RTI advocates<br />
resolved very early in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> life of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
PAIA that for it to keep <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> ideals<br />
of transparency and accountability<br />
alive, PAIA had to be meaningful<br />
to ordinary citizens. Many cases<br />
emerging from South Africa <strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
usage of PAIA dem<strong>on</strong>strate that a<br />
realisati<strong>on</strong> of socio-ec<strong>on</strong>omic rights<br />
through this law is possible.<br />
In this way, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> RTI law in South<br />
Africa is helping promote better<br />
engagement between public instituti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> communities, particularly<br />
<strong>on</strong> service delivery issues.<br />
Where public services are d<strong>on</strong>e<br />
through private c<strong>on</strong>tractors — such<br />
as for building schools and houses<br />
for <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> poor, or providing health and<br />
welfare services — <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> RTI law has<br />
helped government and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> public<br />
ensure accountability and h<strong>on</strong>est<br />
and efficient delivery of public services.<br />
One case involves women in Entambanana<br />
in KwaZulu-Natal province.<br />
These women live in <strong>on</strong>e of South<br />
Africa’s most challenged provinces<br />
in terms of human development.<br />
The villagers in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> district’s hamlet<br />
of Emkhandlwini noticed that<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir neighbours in nearby villages<br />
were receiving water from municipal<br />
tankers from <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> Ntambanana Municipality,<br />
but <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y were not. Their<br />
source of water was a dirty stream<br />
that <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y shared with <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir livestock.<br />
Luckily some members of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> community<br />
were aware of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir basic<br />
civil rights because <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y had had<br />
some training. However, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y did<br />
not know how to seek soluti<strong>on</strong>s to<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> water issue without relying <strong>on</strong><br />
an unresp<strong>on</strong>sive local government<br />
representative who had until <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>n<br />
failed to deal with <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> issue.<br />
“There have been<br />
some important cases<br />
of papers like <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> Mail<br />
& Guardian obtaining<br />
documents that would<br />
o<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>rwise have been<br />
withheld...”<br />
With <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> assistance of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> Open<br />
Democracy Advice Centre in 2004,<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> villagers used PAIA to ask<br />
for <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> minutes of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> council<br />
meetings where <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> municipality<br />
had decided <strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir programmes<br />
for <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> provisi<strong>on</strong> of water. They<br />
also asked for <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> municipality’s<br />
Integrated Development Plan (IDP)<br />
and its budget. It took a frustrating<br />
six m<strong>on</strong>ths before <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> informati<strong>on</strong><br />
was released to <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> requestors, but<br />
when <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> informati<strong>on</strong> was finally<br />
made available it showed that<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>re were plans to provide water<br />
to Emkhandlwini but no-<strong>on</strong>e had<br />
thought of sharing <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>se plans with<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> community.<br />
With <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>se plans in hand <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> women<br />
started asking difficult questi<strong>on</strong>s<br />
of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> authorities regarding <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> delivery<br />
of water. The villagers’ usage<br />
of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> RTI law and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir struggle for<br />
water were also covered in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> me-<br />
dia which helped create sufficient<br />
<strong>press</strong>ure to prompt <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> municipality<br />
to do something about <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> issue.<br />
Almost a year <str<strong>on</strong>g>after</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> initial RTI<br />
request was sent to <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> municipality,<br />
new water tanks, which are replenished<br />
a couple of times a week,<br />
were installed in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> village. Mobile<br />
water tankers delivered water to <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
community while <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> municipality<br />
worked <strong>on</strong> a more permanent soluti<strong>on</strong><br />
of laying down pipes.<br />
The case shows how socio-ec<strong>on</strong>omic<br />
rights were advanced through usage<br />
of RTI and public <strong>press</strong>ure, and not<br />
through litigati<strong>on</strong>. The point is that<br />
public <strong>press</strong>ure to influence resource<br />
allocati<strong>on</strong> can <strong>on</strong>ly be effectively<br />
applied if <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>re is transparency <strong>on</strong><br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> process of resource allocati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
In countries plagued by socioec<strong>on</strong>omic<br />
imbalances that were<br />
inherited from <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> undemocratic<br />
systems of government, it is crucial<br />
that <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> products of democratic<br />
transiti<strong>on</strong> such as RTI laws should<br />
be used to address <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>se problems.<br />
An RTI law is more than a mechanism<br />
for safe-guarding <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> c<strong>on</strong>stituti<strong>on</strong>al<br />
gains of nearly two decades of<br />
democratic transiti<strong>on</strong>. It is also a<br />
means of defending and enhancing<br />
of socio-ec<strong>on</strong>omic justice for <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
poor because, <str<strong>on</strong>g>after</str<strong>on</strong>g> all, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> right to<br />
know is <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> right to live. 4<br />
1 See Calland R. & Tilley A., (eds) The Right to Know, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> Right to Live: Access to Informati<strong>on</strong> & socioec<strong>on</strong>omic justice, The Open Democracy Advice Centre, Cape<br />
Town, October 2002.<br />
164 | Media in Africa - 2011