•Freedom of Information (FOI) is regarded as one of the best examples of democracy.

•Access to Information is a Human Right

In South Africa, the right of access to information is enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Republic of South Africa, 1996) and enacted through the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) (Republic of South Africa 2000).

The passing of FOI legislation symbolises a commitment to promote democracy and public participation. However, the enactment of PAIA has not translated into democracy and public participation because there is overwhelming evidence suggesting the poor implementation of the legislation.

Most marginalised South Africans do not enjoy the right of access to information because of numerous factors such as a lack of awareness, interpretational issues, inadequate resources, a culture of secrecy, laws inherited from the apartheid government, poor record-keeping and a lack of political will (Mutula, 2006; Odinkalu and Kadiri, 2014; OAsogwa and Ezema, 2017). 

Ref. Mojapelo, M.G. (2024), “A framework towards the implementation of freedom of information legislation in South Africa”, Information Discovery and Delivery, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IDD-11-2022-0121

Access to Information promotes

•Transparency by providing the public with timely, accessible and accurate information.

•Accountability.

•Gives ordinary citizens a right of access to all kinds of information held by public bodies (namely the government) and private bodies (such as companies). It offers only limited justification for withholding such information.

 •Cultivating an informed and engaged public 

 •Building  trust in institutions

 •Assists in transparency and accountability in actions related to environmental justice, scientific integrity, and public health.

The Municipal Systems Act emphasizes governance principles and the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) mandates public access to information held by public bodies, including municipalities.

Unfortunately, municipalities often do not make information publicly available by default, instead, they require interested individuals to follow a PAIA application process to access. 

Municipalities are the sphere of government closest to the people. They have powers and duties which directly affect the development of local areas and the daily lives of local residents.

Municipal councils must 

• contribute to the progressive realisation of the fundamental rights contained in the Constitution.
• respect the rights of citizens in the way in which they exercise their powers

The preamble of PAIA states that before the enactment of the Constitution, the South African government was characterised as secretive and unresponsive which led to many abuses of public power. It goes on to state that one of the reasons for enacting PAIA is to foster transparency and accountability in all governance issues, including municipalities. The purpose of PAIA is to improve access to information and not to create a convenient barrier to hide information.

Municipalities’ approach should always favour a position of transparency rather than conditional secrecy.  Ref. Dullah Omar Institute Volume 19, Issue 2, June 2024.The PAIA barrier to access municipal records

One of the most important provisions of the PAIA is the public interest override which provides that despite a ground of refusal applying, the information officer must grant a request for access if the disclosure of the record would:

 •1.Reveal evidence of a substantial contravention of,or failure to comply with the law; or an imminent and serious public safety or environmental risk and

•2.The public interest in the disclosure of the record clearly outweighs the harm contemplated in the ground of refusal.

Ref.  https://africacheck.org/fact-checks/guides/guide-getting-grips-south-africas-promotion-access-information-act

Ref. https://www.lexisnexis.co.za/lexis-digest/legal/access-to-information-the-quest-of-getting-to-the-truth

Guidance on policies and actions and the availability of data

The WHO encourages countries to establish exposure standards that limit EMF exposures to the public and workers as part of national legislation (Ref: Compendium of WHO and other UN guidance on health and environment, 2024 update).The implementation of legal limits, rather than industry self-regulation, should be encouraged. Additionally, national monitoring systems should be established, with data readily accessible to scientists and the public. https://bit.ly/3HkQ4vh

In Australia mobile tower configurations (by all operators) are openly shared on a national website for cumulative safety assessments.

As the deployment of 5G NR networks continues to expand globally, comprehending and monitoring EMF exposure levels have become crucial in ensuring public safety and addressing potential exposure-effect relations. RF-EMF exposure monitoring networks contribute to enhancing our awareness of existing RF-EMF exposures and also serve as valuable resources for policymakers and researchers to make informed decisions regarding human and environmental protection. Ref. Erdal Korkmaz, Sam Aerts, Richard Coesoij, Chhavi Raj Bhatt, Maarten Velghe, Loek Colussi, Derek Land, Nikolaos Petroulakis, Marco Spirito, John Bolte, A comprehensive review of 5G NR RF-EMF exposure assessment technologies: fundamentals, advancements, challenges, niches, and implications, Environmental Research, Volume 260, 2024, 119524, ISSN 0013-9351, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2024.119524.

“My Parliament, My Freedom, My Voice, My Future“.(the theme for the opening of the South African Parliament July 2024)

In the spirit of “My Parliament, My Freedom, My Voice, My Future,’ we must remember that our esteemed constitution enshrines the public’s right to participation and transparency. Yet, too often, ratepayers, taxpayers, and consumers find their voices unheard, especially in matters relating to telecommunication infrastructure. Our constitutional values should be honored by ensuring that all public inquiries are met with the respect, transparency and responsiveness that fosters trust and empowers our future.

The lessons of history emphasize the importance of Freedom of Information requests

Project MKUltra

An illegal human experiments program designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to develop procedures and identify drugs that could be used during interrogations to weaken people and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture.In 1977, a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered a cache of 20,000 documents relating to MKUltra, which led to Senate hearings

Ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MKUltra#cite_note-nytimes.com-13

Ref.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MKUltra#cite_note-mk1977-22

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

The U.S. Public Health Service called it “The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.” The world would soon come to know it simply as the “Tuskegee Study” — one of the biggest medical scandals in U.S. history, an atrocity that continues to fuel mistrust of government and health care among Black Americans. Ref. https://apnews.com/article/tuskegee-study-experiment-syphilis-7743bd8c7d51fe0ef9a855b4bec69b1f

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https://mailchi.mp/emfsa/enforcement-monitoring-compliance-configuration-data-transparency

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Link to the report: https://bit.ly/3HkQ4vh

Report chaired and presented by: James C Lech

Committee members 2022: page 43-44 of the report

Timestamps:

0:00 Legislative Updates (continued); NASA Human Research Program

0:24 Cell towers; Legal Accountability; Guideline versus a Standard

2:25 Promotion of Equality Act; Telecommunications Act

3:21 When the data is available: 3D images; how is the signal hitting a building; localized hotspots; impact on potential person in area

5:31 “no signal” claims

5:43 Municipalities are required to check the information (Eric van Rongen; Dr Emilie van Deventer)

8:48 Equality Court

10:33 Concluding: committee members (South African and international)

11:45 Parliament; moving forward step by step; working together on solutions

14:00 Dr Pierre van der Merwe

18:40 Professor Anna Coutsoudis

22:02 Question discussion: Auditory Effect; EU Directive

Part 5: https://youtu.be/RwAk6GNjcDs

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Trying to solve poverty, crime, and disease with (often biased) technology doesn’t address their root causes.

Excerpt:

“While AI for good programs often warrant genuine excitement, they should also invite increased scrutiny. Good intentions are not enough when it comes to deploying AI for those in greatest need. In fact, the fanfare around these projects smacks of tech solutionism, which can mask root causes and the risks of experimenting with AI on vulnerable people without appropriate safeguards.”

“Even when a company’s intentions seem coherent, the reality is that for many AI applications, the current state of the art is pretty bad when applied to global populations. Researchers have found that facial recognition software, in particular, is often biased against people of color, especially those who are women. This has led to calls for a global moratorium on facial recognition and cities like San Francisco to effectively ban it. AI systems built on limited training data create inaccurate predictive models that lead to unfair outcomes. AI for good projects often amount to pilot beta testing with unproven technologies. It’s unacceptable to experiment in the real world on vulnerable people, especially without their meaningful consent. And the AI field has yet to figure out who is culpable when these systems fail and people are hurt as a result.”

To read the article: https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-ai-for-good-is-often-bad/

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Nov.05 — FCC Chairman Ajit Pai discusses security concerns surrounding Chinese network vendors, the potential merger of T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp, and political advertising on social media. He speaks with Bloomberg’s Shery Ahn on “Bloomberg Markets.”

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