person” see Useful Terms above). PAIA states that in order to protect the right to privacy of
a third party who is a natural person, the Information Officer must assess whether releasing
the information in question to the requester ‘would involve the unreasonable disclosure of
personal information’ (see sections 34 and 63 of PAIA).
Section 1 of PAIA provides a broad definition of what information constitutes
“personal information”. It includes information relating to sex, pregnancy, and religion,
as well as personal correspondence, DNA, fingerprints, and instances where the
individual’s name appears in records.
However, the Information Officer must also consider whether or not the personal
information in question falls into the following categories of personal information which
may be disclosed:
Personal information of an individual who has given consent for
this information to be released;
Personal information which has aready been made public;
Personal information about a child under the age of 18 where the
disclosure of such information is in the best interest of the child,
and the requester is the child's carer (i.e. parent or guardian);
Personal information of a deceased person to a requester who is
the indiviudal's next of kin, or who has been authorised (wirtten
consent) by the next of kin;
Personal information of a deceased person who has been
deceased for a period of more than 20 years;
Personal information of an individual who is or was an official in
a public or private body and where the information relates to
their position as an official.
South African Human Rights Commission
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