Please find an attached soundbite by Madeleine Hicklin MP.
In a surprising decision that raises serious questions about her commitment to transparency and accountability, the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Patricia de Lille, has refused to grant the DA’s PAIA application to access a report into serious allegations at the South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP).
The DA will be submitting an appeal against the Minister’s decision in terms of the relevant provisions of the PAIA Act.
Following allegations of governance challenges, lack of leadership, bullying, sexual harassment, and maladministration at SACAP, the DA had requested an investigation. However, the investigation’s findings were never made public or served before parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure.
In January 2022, the DA submitted a PAIA application asking the Minister to provide us with a copy of the investigation report. Yesterday, De Lille responded to the effect that:
“…the Department therefore is under no authority to furnish or grant you the unpublished investigation report as requested. The aforementioned report contains third party information with Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and legal implications thereto”
If Minister De Lille was aware of her obligations under POPIA, she would have provided the DA with evidence showing that she contacted the affected third parties requesting their authorisation to release the report to us. That she failed to do this betrays a deliberate attempt on her part to shield SACAP from accountability.
Her refusal to be transparent over a report from an investigation that the DA requested will only serve to worsen the governance crisis currently playing out at SACAP. Board Members from SAUArch and the South African Institute of Architects have previously threatened to withhold paying over their professional fees to SACAP because of the dire state of this professional body.
The allegations being leveled against SACAP are of such a serious nature that they cannot be swept under the carpet. Minister de Lille must get off her high horse and for once do the right thing. Release the SACAP report so that the governance crisis at this body is addressed as a matter of urgency.