PAIA

Introduction

The Promotion of Access to Information Act, No. 2 of 2000 (“PAIA”) gives effect to the constitutional right of access to any information held by any private or public body that is required for the exercise or protection of any rights. PAIA prescribes the procedures to be complied with regarding such a request. Section 9 of PAIA recognises that the right to access information is subject to certain justifiable limitations, for instance limitations aimed at, but not limited to the reasonable protection of privacy; commercial confidentiality; and effective, efficient and good governance.
In addition, the recently enacted Protection of Personal Information Act, No. 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”) promotes and provides for the protection of personal information processed by public and private bodies. Moreover, POPIA amended certain provisions of PAIA, balancing the need for access to information against the need to ensure the protection of personal information. Accordingly, the purpose of this PAIA Manual is to inform a person on how to obtain access to records held by Blue Label Telecoms Limited and its subsidiary companies, thereby giving effect to Section 51 of PAIA.

Purpose of the PAIA Manual

The purpose of this PAIA Manual is to provide a description of those records held by andon behalf of the Reware Metering Specialists ; to outline the procedures to be followed as well as theapplicable fees when requesting access to any of these records in the exercise of the rightof access to information, with a view of enabling requesters to obtain records which theyare entitled to in a quick, easy and accessible manner.
Section 9 of PAIA recognises that the right to access information cannot be unlimited andshould be subject to justifiable limitations, including, but not limited to: •limitations aimed at the reasonable protection of privacy;
•commercial confidentiality;
•effective and efficient governance; and
•in a manner which balances that right with any other rights, including those rights asenshrined in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution.
This PAIA Manual complies with the requirements of the guide mentioned in Section 10 of PAIA and recognises that upon commencement of POPIA, that the appointed Information Regulator will be responsible for regulating compliance with PAIA and its accompanying regulations applicable to private and public bodies.

Information Regulator

Should you prefer further guidance on how to access information under PAIA, you maycontact the office of the Information Regulator to ascertain more information. An officialguide has been compiled which contains information to assist those persons wishing toexercise their right of access to information in terms of PAIA as well as POPIA. Theseguidelines will be made available by the Information Regulator. The office of theInformation Regulator may be contacted as follows:The Information Regulator
Postal address: P.O. Box 31533, Braamfontein, 2017
Street address: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001
E-mail address:
Website address: www.justice.gov.za/inforeg

Company Records

• Memorandum of Incorporation
• Directors’ Names
• Other Documents of Incorporation
• Minutes of Board of Directors’ meetings
• Proxy Forms
• Written Resolutions
• Records relating to appointment of company directors, auditors, secretary, public officers, and/or other officers
• Share Register, Share Certificates and other Statutory Registers
• Debt Securities, Share Incentives Schemes or Trusts
• Shareholders’ Agreements
• Other statutory records

Financial Records

• Accounting Records
• Asset Register
• Bank Accounts
• Banking Records
• Financial Statements
• Financial Agreements
• Invoices
• Insurance Policies
• Rental Agreements
• Finance Policies and Procedures

Income Tax Records

• Customs Records
• Tax Returns
• VAT Records
• PAYE Records
• Documents issued to employees for income tax purposes
• Records of payments made to SARS on behalf of employees
• Regional Services levies
• Skills Development levies
• UIF
• Workmen’s Compensation

Personnel Records

• List of Employees
• Employee Personal Information
• Employment Contracts
• Employment Equity Plan
• Medical Scheme Records
• Pension / Provident Fund Records
• Salaries of Employees
• Leave Records
• Internal Evaluations and Performance Reviews
• Disciplinary Codes and Records
• Training Records
• Personal Records provided by personnel
• Other Statutory Records
• Employment Policies and Procedures

Agreements and Contracts

• Standard Agreements
• Merchant Agreements
• Customer Contracts
• Third Party Contracts
• Non-Disclosure Agreements
• Memorandum of Understanding
• Office Management Contracts
• Supplier Contracts
• Tender Contracts
• Software Agreements

Customer and Merchant Records

• Customer details
• Merchant details
• Communications and/or correspondence with customers and merchants
• Transactional Information
• Marketing Records and Promotional Materials

Information Technology

• Computer / Mobile Device documentation
• Disaster Recovery Plans
• Hardware Asset Registers
• Information Security Policies, Standards and Procedures
• Information Technology Systems and User Manuals
• Information Usage Policy
• Project Implementation Plans
• Software Licensing
• System Documentation and Manuals

Regulatory Permissions and Risk Management

• Permits
• Licences
• Local Authority Approvals
• Disaster Recovery Framework
• Health and Safety protocols
• Inquiries, inspections, examinations by authorities
• Risk Management Framework and Systems
• Policies and Procedures

Note that the above list is not exhaustive and may be amended from time to time.

Accessibility to the above records may be subject to the grounds of refusal as set out in this PAIA Manual. Furthermore, records deemed confidential on the part of a third party, will necessitate permission from the third party concerned, in addition to normal requirements, prior to the Reware Metering Specialists giving consideration to access.
Records of a public nature, such as those disclosed on the Reware Metering Specialists or subsidiary websites as well as in its annual reports, may be accessed without the need to submit a formal application.
Other non-confidential records, such as statutory records maintained at the CIPC may also be accessed without the need to submit a formal application. Please schedule appointment to view such records with the Information Officer.

Grounds for Refusal

We will evaluate and consider all duly completed access requests received by the Reware Metering Specialists in terms of the regulatory provisions of PAIA and POPIA. Publication of this PAIA Manual does not give rise to any rights to access information records, save for the regulatory provisions set out in PAIA and POPIA.

We reserve the right to refuse you access to certain records in terms of PAIA and POPIA in order to protect:
• the privacy of another person;
• the commercial information of another company or third party;
• the confidential information of another person;
• the copyright, intellectual property or trade secrets of the Reware Metering Specialists and/or any of its subsidiary companies;
• the safety and security of property and/or individuals;
• those records deemed privileged in terms of legal proceedings;
• research information; and/or
• refuse requests to access information that are patently frivolous or vexatious, and/or involve an unreasonable diversion of resources.
On receipt of a duly completed access request form, we will endeavour to notify you in writing within 30 days as to whether your request has been approved or declined. If we cannot find any requested record and/or where it is determined that no such record exists, we shall formally notify you that it is not possible to provide access to that particular record.

Access Request Procedure

A requester requiring access to information held by the Reware Metering Specialists must complete the prescribed form, enclosed herewith as Annexure A and submit same to the Information Officer as per the contact details stated in paragraph 4 above as well as pay the applicable request fees.
In order to enable ourselves to provide a timely response to requests for access, all requesters should take note of the following when completing the Access Request Form:
• the Access Request Form must be completed in full;
• a full description of the records requested must be provided;
• Proof of Identity to authenticate the identity of the requester must be provided;
• the requester must state that they require the information in order to exercise or protect a right;
• the requester must clearly state the nature of the right to be exercised or protected; and
• they must specify why the record is necessary to exercise or protect such a right.

If a request is made on behalf of another person, then the requester must submit proof of the capacity in which the requester is making the request to the reasonable satisfaction of the Information Officer.
On receipt of a duly completed access request form, we will endeavour to notify you in writing within 30 days as to whether your request has been approved or declined. If we cannot find any requested record and/or where it is determined that no such record exists, we shall formally notify you that it is not possible to provide access to that particular record

Access Request Fees

We must be in receipt of the applicable fees in full prior to any information and records being processed and handed over to you. The Information Officer shall withhold the information and/or records until the requester has paid all outstanding fees in full.
PAIA provides for two types of fees, namely:
• A request fee, which is a form of administration fee to be paid by all requesters except personal requesters, before the request is considered and is not refundable; and
• An access fee, which is paid by all requesters in the event that a request for access is granted. This fee is inclusive of costs involved by the private body in obtaining and preparing a record for delivery to the requester.
The schedule of fees payable is enclosed herewith in Annexure B.

Complaints to the Information Regulator

The requester may submit a complaint in writing to the Information Regulator, within 180 days of the decision, alleging that the decision was not in compliance with the provisions of PAIA. The Information Regulator will investigate the complaint and reach a decision which may include a decision to investigate, to take no further action or to refer the complaint to the Enforcement Committee established in terms of POPIA. The Information Regulator may serve an enforcement notice confirming, amending or setting aside the impugned decision, which must be accompanied by reasons.

Application to Court

An application to court may be brought in the ordinary course of business. For purposes of PAIA, any reference to an application to court includes an application to a Magistrates’ Court.

The Protection of Personal Information

The Reware Metering Specialists and its subsidiaries endeavour to process personal information lawfully and for specific purposes as set out below. In the first instance, we process personal information for the following categories of people:

• Customers
• Merchants
• Third Parties
• Suppliers, Vendors or Service Providers
• Prospects or Leads
• Employees
• Contractors, Agents or Intermediaries
• Debtors and Creditors
• Directors and Shareholders

We process personal information to:

• provide our goods or supply our services;
• better understand our data subjects’ needs when doing so;
• keep our data subject records up-to-date;
• manage employees;
• manage supplier contracts;
• manage merchant relationships;
• manage customers in general;
• market to customers;
• enforce outstanding debts;
• market goods and services to prospects;
• run promotional competitions and offers;
• process customer requests or complaints; and to
• process personal information of employees.

We process many different categories of personal information, including:

• contact details, i.e. telephone numbers; physical, postal and email addresses;
• personal details, i.e. names and dates of birth;
• biometrics;
• demographic details;
• GPS co-ordinates;
• contract information;
• account numbers;
• background and/or supporting information;
• financial information, i.e. banking and/or payment details;
• transactional information;
• market intelligence information;
• browsing habits via our websites visited; and
• any other information not specified herein for the purposes of administration and business operations.
We provide the following contracted people and/or third parties personal information that we process during the ordinary course of business to fulfil our legal obligations to our customer and/or merchant base:

• contractors, vendors, or suppliers;
• agents, distributors, retailers and/or other resellers;
• operators, other responsible parties, or co-responsible parties; and
• other contracted third party vendors to assist with maintaining our product offerings and services.
We endeavour to take all practical and reasonable measures to protect and secure personal data from damage, loss or theft, misuse through unauthorised access or disclosure, as well as unlawful processing and/or destruction. Furthermore, we take appropriate steps to maintain personal information in an accurate, complete and up-to-date format as per its intended use.

Published Date
This PAIA Manual is made available in terms of Regulation Number R.187 of 15 February 2002 and available to view at our premises and website.