The role of access to information in enabling transparency and public participation in governance : a case study of access to policy consultation records in South Africa

Abstract

The operationalisation of good governance principles such as transparency and
 public participation depends largely on the degree of access that citizens have to
 government information. This article is based on the notion that citizens should
 be informed about what government is or does (transparency) and provided with
 sufficient opportunities to influence this (public participation). Both of these
 depend on the provision of reliable information before, during and after policy
 consultation. The article explores how transparency may be operationalised through
 access to information and how this is implemented in South Africa through the
 Promotion of Access to Information Act. It then focuses on policy consultation as
 a mechanism for government transparency that can only function adequately if the
 public has access to information concerning both the policy and the consultation