PAIA manual
The Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) gives everyone the right to request access to records held by a private body where the record is needed to exercise or protect a right. This manual explains what records MechTech Dynamics holds, how to ask for them, and how we process personal information.
1. Contact details
- Private body: Albert van Niekerk, a sole proprietor trading as MechTech Dynamics
- Head of the private body and Information Officer: Albert van Niekerk
- Physical address: Pretoria, Gauteng. The full address is available on request.
- Postal address: Pretoria, Gauteng. The full address is available on request.
- Phone: 082 778 3574 or 012 644 1074
- Email: info@mechtechsol.co.za
- Website: mechtechsol.co.za
2. The Information Regulator's guide
The Information Regulator publishes a guide on how to use PAIA and POPIA, in each official language, as section 10 of PAIA requires. You can get it from the Regulator:
- Website: inforegulator.org.za
- Email: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
- Phone: 010 023 5200 or toll free 0800 017 160
- Address: Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191
A copy is also available from our Information Officer on request.
3. Records available without a request
The following are available on this website without a formal request: this manual, the privacy policy, the terms of use, and the information published about our services.
4. Records kept under other laws
Where they apply to the business, records are kept in terms of, among others:
- Income Tax Act 58 of 1962
- Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011
- Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991
- Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997
- Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008
- Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002
- Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013
- Justices of the Peace and Commissioners of Oaths Act 16 of 1963
Records held because one of these laws requires it can be requested under that law or under PAIA.
5. Subjects and categories of records held
- Business administration: registration and trading records, tax and financial records, invoices, banking records, insurance policies, contracts with service providers.
- Instructions and casework: letters of instruction and correspondence, inspection notes, measurements, photographs, records of retained components, forensic reports, records of consultations and court attendances.
- Enquiries: enquiries received through the website, by email, by phone and on WhatsApp.
- Website: server logs and technical records kept by our host.
Most casework records are held on behalf of, or in confidence for, the party who instructed us, and many are privileged from production in legal proceedings. Access to them is usually refused under the grounds in section 6 below.
6. How to request access
- Complete Form 2 (Request for access to a record) from the PAIA Regulations, 2021. It is available on the Information Regulator's website, or from us on request.
- Send it to the Information Officer by email to info@mechtechsol.co.za, by post, or by hand to the address above.
- Give enough detail to identify the record, say how you want access (for example a copy or an inspection), and explain which right you need the record to exercise or protect. If you are asking on someone else's behalf, include proof of your authority.
- Pay the request fee and any access fee prescribed in the PAIA Regulations (Annexure B). We will tell you if a deposit is payable before we search for or prepare the record.
We will decide within 30 days of receiving a complete request and tell you in writing. This period may be extended once by up to 30 days where section 57 allows; we will tell you if it is.
Access may be refused on the grounds in Chapter 4 of Part 3 of PAIA, including to protect another person's privacy (section 63), confidential commercial information of a third party (section 64), information supplied in confidence (section 65), records privileged from production in legal proceedings (section 67), and our own commercial information (section 68). If access is refused, we will give reasons.
If you are not satisfied with our decision, you may complain to the Information Regulator at PAIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za, or apply to court, within 180 days of the decision.
7. How we process personal information
This section summarises what section 51(1)(c) of PAIA requires. Our privacy policy has the detail.
- Purpose: to respond to enquiries, carry out instructions, prepare forensic reports, give evidence, keep business and tax records, and keep the website secure.
- Categories of people and information: people who send enquiries (contact details and the details of their matter); clients such as attorneys, insurers, fleet operators and vehicle owners (contact, billing and instruction details); people involved in a matter, such as drivers, owners, passengers and witnesses (names, contact details, vehicle details, statements and photographs, which may include information about alleged offences or proceedings); and service providers (contact and payment details).
- Who receives it: instructing parties, courts and tribunals, authorities where the law requires it, and our service providers such as the web host, email provider and accountant.
- Transfers outside South Africa: none are planned. If a service provider stores information outside South Africa, it is only with protection that meets section 72 of POPIA.
- Security: encrypted website connection, password-protected accounts and devices, access limited to the Information Officer, secure storage of physical records and components, and notification of any security compromise as section 22 of POPIA requires.
8. Availability of this manual
This manual is published on this website and is available at our principal place of business. A copy can be requested from the Information Officer; a fee prescribed in the PAIA Regulations may apply to a printed copy.