in terms of
Section 51(1) of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (“the Act”)
THE PURPOSE
The purpose of this document is to serve as the Manual of Autopage as required in terms of the Act, and to provide a reference as to the records held and the procedures that need to be followed to request access to such records INTRODUCTION
Autopage is South Africa’s largest independent provider of cellular telephony.
SECTION I:
CONTACT PERSON AND ADDRESS DETAILS OF ALTECH
(as required by Section 51(1)(a))
The Managing Director (“MD”) of the Company has duly authorised the contact person below to ensure that the Act is complied with:
Contact Person: Ms R Wolmarans
Physical Address: Altech House
79 Central Street
Houghton
JOHANNESBURG
Postal Address: P O Box 153
Bergvlei
2012
SOUTH AFRICA
Telephone: (011) 715 9000
Fax: (011) 715 9048
e-mail address: rwolmarans@altech.co.za
SECTION II:
GUIDE ON HOW TO USE THE ACT
(as required by Section 51(1)(b), as read with Section10)
The Human Rights Commission has compiled a guide, in terms of Section 10 of the Act, containing information which may reasonably be required by a person who wishes to exercise any right contemplated in the Act. This guide was published in the first half of 2005 and access to it, and to any amended versions thereof cab be found on the website of the South African Rights Commission at www.sahrc.org.za, or a hard copy can be obtained directly from the South African Human Rights Commission.
The Human Rights Commission’s contact details are as follows: Physical Address: The South African Human Rights Commission
EAIA Unit
The Research and Documentation Department
29 Princess of Wales Terrace
Cnr York and St Andrews Street
Parktown
Johannesburg
Postal address: Private Bag 2700
Houghton
2041
Telephone: (011) 484 8300
Fax: (011) 484 0582
e-mail address: PAIA@sahrc.org.za
Web site: www.sahrc.org.za SECTION III:
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS AVAILABLE (as required by Section 51(1)(c))
The following categories of records are automatically available without a person having to request access in terms of this Act:
1. Statutory records
Memorandum of association
Articles of association
Certificate of incorporation
Certificate to commence business
Register of directors
Declarations of Directors’ Interests
Form CM5 – reservation of name
Form CM7 – shortened form of name
Form CM8 – defensive names
Form CM9 – change of name
Form CM11 – increase in authorised capital
Form CM15 – allotment of shares
Form CM14A – repurchase of shares
Form CM18 – Registration of Court Orders
Form CM19 – redemption of preference shares
Form CM21 – where records are kept if not at registered office
Form CM22 – registered office
Form CM25 – waive period of notice of meeting
Form CM26 – special resolutions
Form CM27 – consent to act as a director
Form CM29 – directors and officers
Form CM31 – appointment/resignation of auditors
Form CM32 – change of year end
Form CM45 – conversion of one type of company to the other
Form CM52 – exemption to lodge annual financial statements
.
2. Human Resources
Employment Equity returns to the Dept of Labour
Work skills development plans submitted to relevant Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)
Standard Terms and Conditions of Employment applicable to all Staff
3. Employee benefits
Altron Group Pension Fund
Altron Group Retirement Fund
Altron Medical Aid Scheme
As the above are separate entities, information pertaining to these entities must be requested direct from those funds themselves.
The actuaries of the retirement funds are Alexander Forbes Limited.
4. Auditors
The company’s auditors are PKF (Jhb) Incorporated, 15 Girton Road, Parktown. SECTION IV:
RECORDS AVAILABLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH LEGISLATION (as required by Section 51(1)(d)
Records are available, where applicable, in accordance with the following current South African legislation (only to the extent that the relevant Act makes disclosure of records compulsory):
- The Occupational Health and Safety Act No. 29 of 1996;
- The Hazardous Substances Act No. 15 of 1973;
- The Health Act No. 63 of 1977;
- The Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Act No. 45 of 1965;
- The Compensation for Occupation Injuries and Diseases Act No. 130 of 1993;
- The Stock Exchanges Control Act No. 1 of 1985;
- The Value Added Tax Act No. 89 of 1991;
- The Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962;
- The Companies Act No. 61 of 1973;
- Basic Conditions of Employment Act No. 75 of 1997;
- Employment Equity Act No. 55 of 1998;
- The Labour Relations Act No. 66 of 1985;
- Skills Development Act No. 97 of 1998;
- The Medical Schemes Act No. 131 of 1998;
- The Pension Funds Act No. 24 of 1956.
SECTION V:
DETAIL TO FACILITATE A REQUEST FOR ACCESS TO RECORDS (as required by Section 51(1)(e))
Any request for access to records should be submitted on the prescribed form C (a copy of which is attached) which should be sent to the Contact Person whose name and address details appear in Section I hereof.
Autopage has in its possession the following categories of records on the subject matters referred to hereunder:
Finance
The Finance department attends to the financial affairs of the Company. Finance records comprise the following main categories:
- Departmental Administration Records
- Internal Reports and Communications
- General Correspondence
- Annual Financial Statements and working papers
- Bank instructions, bank statements and vouchers
- Books of account
- Cash books
- Cheques and deposit slips
- Creditors invoices and statements
- Creditors Ledgers
- Fixed asset register
- General Ledgers
- Goods received notes
- Petty cash books
- Purchase Invoices
- Purchase orders
- Receipts
- Workman’s Compensation Documents
- Insurance claim reports and accident reports Fraud and Risk
Fraud and Risk’s purpose is to provide the Company with independent assurance that risks are being appropriately managed within the Company.
Fraud and Risk records comprise the following main categories:
- Risk Management Records
- General Correspondence
- General Administration Records
- Audit Reports and Supporting Working Papers
- Fraud BK Proof (documentation)
- Fraud BK Proof (book) Accounting
The Accounting department maintains financial and management accounts for the Company and provides back-office activities that support Integrated Treasury and Cash Management.
Accounting records comprise the following main categories:
- Accounting Records
- Investment Records
- General Correspondence
- Management Reports
- VAT Records
- PAYE Records
- Consolidation Records
- Internal Reports and Communications Human Resource (HR) Department
The Human Resource Department’s primary objective is to develop and implement a competitive human resource strategy that will support the Company. Human Resource records comprise the following main categories:
- General Correspondence
- Employee Records
- General HR Policies and Procedures
- Pension Records
- Employee Benefit Records
- Labour Relations Records
- Statutory Records
- Employment Equity Records
- Employment Contracts
- Accident books and records
- Job application records
- Arbitration award records
- Payrolls
- Wage and salary records
- Personal records of company executives
- Records if Incidents reported at work Legal Department
The Legal department deals with all corporate legal matters material to the Company. Legal department records comprise the following categories:
- Working Files
- Records regarding establishment of a business relationship
- General Correspondence
- Agreements
- Statutory Records
- Litigation Records
- Legal Records
- Internal Reports and Communications
- Indemnities and guarantees
- Customer Complaints
- BEE questionnaires and general BEE information Credit Control
The records kept by the Credit control Department comprise the following:
- General Correspondence
- Debtor’s ledgers
- Debtors Statements Legal Department (Debtors)
This Department attends to the management and collection of outstanding Subscriber debts. The records kept by this Department comprise the following:
- Debtor’s ledgers
- Debtor’s statements
- Litigation Records
- Legal Records
- General Correspondence
Customer Service
The Customer Service Department deals with customer complaints and queries, seeks to maintain and raise service levels to subscribers and ensure that the subscriber base is retained.
The records kept by the Customer Service Department comprise the following:
- General Correspondence
- Subscriber and retention agreements
- Customer complaints
- Service requests
- Cancellations
- Individual Subscriber agreement pad
- Business Subscriber agreement pad
Sales
The Sales Department seeks to grow and develop the Company’s corporate client base, maintain service levels to corporate clients, ensure corporate client base is retained, keep corporate Client base updated with the latest technology, and negotiate for new business.
The records kept by the sales Department include the following:
- General correspondence
- Records of negotiations for new business
- Tender and Proposals records
- Internal reports and account reviews
- Staff commissions and incentives records
Retentions
The Retentions Department seeks to prevent the termination of Subscriber’s contracts, and deals with all retentions agreements.
The records kept by the Retentions Department comprise the following:
- Business Retention Agreement pad
- Individual Retention Agreement pad
- Retention Multiple Line Upgrade pad
- Copies of all retention agreements Insurance
The Insurance Department provides an insurance service to Subscribers in respect of handsets purchased by the Subscribers.
The records kept by the Insurance Department comprise the following
- General correspondence
- Loan Phone BK Proof
- Requisition Phone Repair BK
- Claim reports
- Sales Order form pad Business Development
The Business Development Department seeks to grow and develop the range of products and services offered by the Company to its Subscribers.
The records kept by the Business Development Department comprise the following:
- Records regarding the establishment of business relationships
- Records regarding new products and services
- Records regarding negotiations with products suppliers and service providers
- General correspondence Information Technology
The Information Technology department attends to the IT needs of the company. The records kept by the Information Technology department comprise the following:
- Software licences
- Software support agreements
- Electronic hardware support/maintenance agreements
- Back-ups of Debtor’s Ledgers
- Back-ups of Debtor’s statements Marketing
The Marketing Department produces advertising material in both below and above the line campaigns, in order to sell the products and services of Autopage and the GSM networks. Marketing Department records comprise the following:
- Network deals letters
- Product information
- Product pricing information
- Copies of all marketing material for reference purposes Training
The object of this department is to identify training needs within the company, develop and train departmental company staff on Company policies and procedures, and to keep staff abreast of new developments in the communications industry. The records kept by the Customer Service Department comprise the following:
- General Correspondence
- Records of internal and external training programmes
- Skills Development Reports submitted to the Department of Labour Stores Department
This Department attends to the receipt of stock on behalf of the Company and the distribution thereof to various departments within the Company and to the sales channel of the company. The records kept by the Stores Department comprise the following:
- Customer Collect Receipt BK
- Goods received notes BK
- Inter Branch stock transfer BK
- Proforma invoice BK
- General Correspondence
SECTION VI:
ACCESS REQUEST PROCEDURE AND PRESCRIBED FEES
A request for access to records must be made in the prescribed Form C (a copy of which is attached) which should be sent to the address, fax number or electronic mail address.
Please note that an initial, non-refundable request fee of R57,00 (inclusive of VAT) is payable on submission. This fee is not applicable to personal requests, i.e. individual seeking access to records pertaining to those individuals themselves.
In the event that a request for access is successful an access fee will be payable for the search, reproduction and/or preparation of records and will be calculated based on the fee prescribed under the Act. The access fee must be paid prior to access being given to the requested record.
Request for information will be evaluated and the applicant will be notified within 30 days after receipt of the request in the prescribed format of the following:
Notification of extension period (if required)
Applicants must take note that in terms of the Act the 30 days period mentioned above may be extended for a further period of not more than 30 days under certain circumstances (details will be provided together with the notification of such extension);
The access fee and/or deposit
The applicant will be informed of the access fee (if any) which is payable for having access to the records. In addition, a deposit may be requested which is fully refundable in the event that the application is ultimately refused.
Decision on request
The applicant will be informed whether or not the application for access has been denied, or granted. In the event that it is granted the information referred to above pertaining to the access fee, any deposit payable and any other relevant matters will be advised. In the event that the applicant is refused the applicant will be given adequate reasons for the refusal and will be informed that the applicant may lodge an application with a Court against the refusal of the application, as well as the procedure (including the period) for lodging such application.
Grounds for refusal
The Company may legitimately refuse to grant access to a requested record that falls within a certain category. Grounds on which the Company may refuse include:
- Protecting personal information that the Company hold about a third person (who is a natural person), including a deceased person, from unreasonable disclosure;
- Protecting commercial information that the Company holds about a third party or the Company (for example trade secrets, financial, commercial, scientific or technical information that may harm the commercial or financial interests of the Company or the third party);
- If disclosure of the record would result in a breach of a duty of confidence owed to a third party in terms of an agreement;
- If disclosure of the record would endanger the life or physical safety of an individual;
- If disclosure of the record would prejudice or impair the security of property or means of transport;
- If disclosure of the record would prejudice or impair the protection of a person in accordance with a witness protection scheme;
- If disclosure of the record would prejudice or impair the protection of the safety of the public;
- The record is privileged from production in legal proceedings, unless the legal privilege has been waived;
- Disclosure of the record (containing trade secrets, financial, commercial, scientific, or technical information) would harm the commercial or financial interests of the Company;
- Disclosure of the record would put the Company at a disadvantage in contractual or other negotiations or prejudice it in commercial competition;
- The record is a computer programme; and
- The record contains information about research being carried out or about to be carried out on behalf of a third party of the Company.
Records that cannot be found or do not exist
If the Company has searched for a record and it is believed that the record either does not exist or cannot be found, the requester will be notified by way of an affidavit or affirmation. This will include the steps that were taken to try to locate the record.
Third party information
If access is requested to a record that contains information about a third party, the Company is obliged to attempt to contact this third party to inform them of the request. This enables the third party the opportunity of responding by either consenting to the access or by providing reasons why the access should be denied.
In the event of the third party furnishing reasons for the support or denial of access, our designated contact person will consider these reasons in determining whether access should be granted, or not.
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