Paper Wars: Access to Information in South Africa

'Paper Wars goes beyond being a valuable repository of freedom of information lore. It reflects upon the ‘multiple faces of information governance' and indeed upon secrecy itself. The volume presents new evidence and fresh thinking on this increasingly vital and global topic.' Professor Jonathan Klaaren, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

A new SAHA publication, Paper wars: access to information in South Africa, is to be launched at the Cape Town Book Fair on 13 June 2009. Edited by Kate Allan, SAHA's Freedom of Information co-ordinator from 2005 to 2007, Paper Wars reflects upon the work SAHA has done around testing the parameters of South Africa's freedom of information legislation, the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) and [provides insight into some of the difficulties information activists and requesters have encountered as they have attempted to put South Africa's constitutional right of access to information into practice.

Papers wars will be launched at the Cape Town Book Fair in Room 1.61 at 11h00 on 13 June 2009 with a panel discussion on access to information in South Africa. The panelists will include Richard Calland, Associate Professor in the Public Law Department at the University of Cape Town; Ciraj Rassool, Associate Professor in the Department of History, University of the Western Cape; and Yasmin Sooka, Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights, South Africa.

For more information about Paper wars and the launch, please contact Catherine Kennedy.