Since 2011, SAHA has been developing a separate website to showcase the work of the Freedom of Information Progamme at SAHA.

Central to this website is the PAIA Request Tracker, an online information management tool developed by the South African History Archive (SAHA) to track and manage requests made under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) in South Africa, both by SAHA and by other members of the PAIA Civil Society Network (PCSN). The PAIA Request Tracker is essentially a tool for monitoring compliance with PAIA, tracking the extent to which both the government and private bodies are meeting their obligations in terms of making information accessible to South Africans.

The PAIA Request Tracker includes integrated mechanisms to create, send and track PAIA requests and all related communication to the private and public bodies to which these requests are submitted. By incorporating a system for tracking the progress of PAIA requests against the prescribed timelines in terms of the legislation, as well as functionality to send automated faxes / emails from within the system, the tracker serves as an online records management system, streamlining the request process, thus making it easier for civil society organisations to submit requests to support human rights advocacy in South Africa.

View requests submitted through the PAIA Tracker

The PAIA request tracker is linked to a growing online archive of publicly available materials released to SAHA under PAIA (currently archived as SAHA Collection AL2878), in order to demonstrate the connection between the right to know with broader development debates and transparency and accountability agendas.

The site also includes resources to support PAIA training and use and a regular electronic news service, monitoring and commenting on access to information efforts and developments in South Africa, and across the continent.