Reports related to the South African Defence Force Special Defence Account created under the Defence Special Account Act No 6. of 1974 for each financial year for the period 1 July 1976 to 1 July 1995
Copies of any and all records, or part of records as follows:
1. All audit reports related to the South African Defence Force Special Defence Account created under the Defence Special Account Act No 6. of 1974 for each financial year for the period 1 July 1976 to 1 July 1995, as referred to in the TRC Final Report, Volume 2, pages 534 and 540, as follows:
“The Defence Special Account Act No 6 of 1974, which came into effect on
6 March 1974, made provision for the establishment of the Special Defence Account. The Act allowed for funds in the account to be used, with the approval of the Minister of Finance, to defray expenditure incurred in connection with special defence activities (including secret services) as well as such purchases as the Minister of Defence deemed necessary.
….
…The above amount of R15 285 000 does not reflect the amount that passed through the Defence Special Account. The Auditor-General has provided the Commission with a schedule that identifies a total amount of R49 648 737 969 passing through this account, with a further R586 501 609 being expended on ‘sensitive line function projects’ between the 1974–75 and 1994–95 financial years.”
2. Report of the Auditor General on all secret funds from 1960 to 1994 as provided to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), as referred to in the TRC Final Report, Volume 2, page 524, as follows:
“.. the Auditor-General reported that a total of more than R2.75 billion was expended through the Secret Services Account between 1978 and 1994. … As is clear in the Auditor-General’s report, a vast number of projects would not have been formally registered as secret projects but were undertaken within departmental line functions.…”
3. The schedule of secret projects compiled by the Auditor General provided to the TRC, as was referred to in the TRC Final Report, Volume 2, page 539, as follows:
“The Auditor-General has provided the Commission with a schedule of secret projects received from eight government departments: the NIA; the Department of Justice; the South African Police Services (SAPS); the Department of Foreign Affairs; South African Secret Services; the Department of State Expenditure, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the Department of Arts and Culture, Science and Technology. This information was made available shortly before the termination of the work of the Commission.”
o Reference number, if available:
o Any further particulars of record:
Noting specifically in relation to this request that:
i. Section 5 of PAIA provides for the supremacy of PAIA over any other legislation prohibiting or restricting disclosure of information and that this includes any provisions in the Public Audit Act, 2004 that limits or restricts the disclosure of information, such as section 18 of that Act (see South African Human Rights Commission notice on supremacy of PAIA - http://www.sahrc.org.za/home/21/files/Notice on the supremacy of PAIA.pdf);
ii. To the extent that any grounds for refusal in Chapter 4 of PAIA may apply to any, or any part of any, record falling within this request, section 46 of PAIA places an obligation on a Requestee body to apply the public interest override test provided for in that section to each and every such record or part of a record;
iii. To the extent that any grounds for refusal in Chapter 4 of PAIA may apply to any, or any part of any, record falling within this request, section 28 of PAIA places an obligation on a Requestee body to severability in terms of the provisions of that section; and
iv. To the extent that any record or part of any record requested in terms of this request is in the possession of, under the control of or more closely connected to the functions of another public body or where the information in the record / part of the record contains commercial information of another public body, section 20 of PAIA places an obligation on the Requestee body to transfer the request or part of the request to such other body.
Initial request communication
Communication sent
Response received
Response date: 2015-10-01Response nature: Denied
Received within statutory period: Yes
Court
Application Description
APPLICATION DOCUMENTATION Notion of motion and founding affidavit with annexures.