Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

AfriForum submits PAIA request following George Municipality’s silence on camera system

AfriForum today submitted a formal application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to the George Municipality to compel the Municipality to disclose information regarding its decision to terminate existing community safety stakeholders’ access to the municipal camera network. The PAIA application follows the Municipality’s rejection of AfriForum’s attempts to resolve the matter through discussions and formal correspondence.

Dr Dean O’Neill, Acting Municipal Manager, indicated in writing on 7 October that the Municipality was unwilling to meet with AfriForum regarding the matter. AfriForum subsequently approached the Executive Mayor, Browen Johnson, on 21 October, requesting urgent intervention and a meeting.

In light of the authorities’ continued refusal to meet with community safety stakeholders, AfriForum is now using the formal PAIA process to obtain the documents and information on which the Municipality based its decision.

“AfriForum has attempted to resolve this matter through dialogue from the outset. The Municipality has refused to meet with us, and our formal correspondence to the Mayor remains unanswered. If the Municipality is unwilling to discuss its decision with the stakeholders concerned or answer our questions, we have no choice but to use the available legal processes to compel transparency and obtain answers,” says Marthinus Erasmus, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for the Southern Cape.

Through the PAIA application, AfriForum is requesting, among other things:

the formal decision, resolution or instruction under which existing stakeholders’ access to the camera network was terminated, as well as the reasons, recommendations and risk assessments on which the decision was based;
documentation relating to the problems, shortcomings or risks that, according to the Municipality, necessitated the termination of existing access;
records of any consultations, meetings or communications with affected safety stakeholders before the decision was taken, or any existing record explaining why no prior consultation took place;
the policy, procedure or protocol governing the new verification process, as well as documentation explaining its purpose, necessity and basis; and
the criteria and standards that stakeholders must meet to regain access, as well as the expected timeframe for processing applications.

The exclusion limits stakeholders’ ability to monitor suspicious vehicles and criminal incidents through the camera network and to coordinate responses. For example, a suspicious vehicle could be tracked as far as George and then effectively disappear from the broader safety network’s radar because stakeholders who were previously able to assist in monitoring the vehicle’s subsequent movements no longer have access.

“AfriForum is not asking the Municipality to relinquish control over its infrastructure. We are asking why an existing safety capability was cut off without proper consultation, what that decision was based on and why the Municipality is unwilling to engage with established safety stakeholders on the matter,” says Erasmus.

“Community safety cannot operate in isolation. The South African Police Service (SAPS), municipalities, neighbourhood watches, farm watches and other community safety stakeholders depend on one another. When a decision hampers this cooperation, it is reasonable to expect the Municipality to be willing to explain its decision and be held accountable for it.”

AfriForum will examine the information obtained through the PAIA process to establish how the decision was made, whether its implications for community safety were properly considered and what further steps may be necessary.