A framework towards the implementation of freedom of information legislation in South Africa
| Date | 15 February 2024 |
| Pages | 1-11 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IDD-11-2022-0121 |
| Published date | 15 February 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Library & information services,Lending,Document delivery,Collection building & management,Stock revision,Consortia |
| Author | Makutla Gibson Mojapelo |
A framework towards the implementation of
freedom of information legislation in
South Africa
Makutla Gibson Mojapelo
Department of Information Science, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this study was to investigate a framework for the implementation of freedom of information (FOI) legislation in South
Africa, against Article 19’s nine principles of FOI legislation.
Design/methodology/approach –This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to collect data from six experts selected by means of the
snowball sampling technique and content analysis. The study used a modified Delphi design consisting of two rounds of interviews.
Findings –The results showed that little effort is made by government officials to demonstrate commitment to the implementation of FOI legislation.
Practical implications –The passing of FOI is expected to reduce corruption, increase public participation, reduce the level of secrecy and increase
transparency and openness. This is not the case as the implementation of this socioeconomic right in South Africa is faced by numerous challe nges,
such as a lack of political will, secrecy laws providing for the opposite of what the FOI legislation seeks to achieve, poor legisla tive interpretation
and a lack of clear policies. The study proposes a framework aimed at addressing these challenges.
Originality/value –The study provides a framework for the implementation of FOI legislation. The framework was developed under the guidance of
Article 19 principles of freedom of information legislation.
Keywords Freedom of information, South Africa, Article 19 principles, Democracy, Public participation, Openness
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The importance of freedom of information (FOI) in realising
democracy and publicparticipation cannot be overemphasised.
One cannot discuss the gains of democracy and public
participation without highlighting the need for transparency
and accountability. As Ezema (2023) stated,open government
is fundamental to the functioning of a healthy democracy. FOI
provides mechanisms that members of the public can use to
hold those in public officeaccountable (Mabillard and Keuffer,
2022;Nkwe and Ngoepe, 2021).Democracy can only function
when citizens are fully informed about the decisions taken by
the government, to allow proper scrutinyto take place (Nwoke,
2019). As Meyer-Resende (2011) would attest, ordinary
members of the public must access sufficientinformation about
transactions, and they must have wide public access to official
records, to hold the authorities accountable. In short,
democracy and public participation rely on the existence of
informed citizenry(Mason et al., 2018).
As many countries around the world adopt open government
initiatives to enhance transparency, accountability and public
participation,there are scholars (Oni et al., 2022;Duncan et al.,
2023) who believe that FOI laws are instrumental in achieving
the same goal. The Open Government Partnership(OGP) uses
FOI as one of the core eligibility criteria for countriesto join the
organisation [Open Government Partnership (OGP), 2021;
Open Government Partnership (OGP), 2023]. According to
Open Government Partnership (2021), countries such as
Argentina and the USA leveraged FOI legislation to build a
growing open data infrastructure. Like other countries in the
world, South Africa has been developing information
infrastructure to enhance connectivity, digital access and
technology capabilities. Some of the initiatives aligned to the
principles of National Information Infrastructure in South
The current issue and full text archiveof this journal is available on Emerald
Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/2398-6247.htm
Information Discovery and Delivery
53/1 (2025) 1–11
Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 2398-6247]
[DOI 10.1108/IDD-11-2022-0121]
© Makutla Gibson Mojapelo. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited.
This article is publishedunder the Creative Commons Attribution(CC BY
4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create
derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial
purposes),subject to full attribution to the originalpublication and authors.
The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/
licences/by/4.0/legalcode
The financial assistance of the National Institute for the Humanities and
Social Sciences,in collaboration with the South AfricanHumanities Deans
Association (SAHUDA) towards this research is hereby acknowledged.
Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at are those of the author and
not necessarilyto be attributed to theNIHSS and SAHUDA.
Funding: This study was supported by the National Institute for the
Humanities and Social Sciences (SDS20/1216).
Received 24 November 2022
Revised 2 April 2023
6 November 2023
18 December 2023
14 January 2024
Accepted 14 January 2024
1
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