Publication: Business Report Date: 2005-12-08 Reporter: Renée Bonorchis Reporter:

Without Access to Information, Public Life Will Fester

 

Publication 

Business Report
Date

2005-12-08

Reporter

 Renée Bonorchis

Web Link

www.busrep.co.za

 

The almost chronic reluctance by both the public and private sectors to make available the kind of information that people need in order to make informed decisions was thoroughly slammed in parliament this week.

The joint ad hoc committee on corporate governance, chaired by the ANC's Barbara Hogan, has held hearings as part of the government's focus on the peer review mechanism of the New Partnership for Africa's Development.

Several other meetings have been held by different arms of government on this often thorny issue over the past few weeks, and the general feeling appears to be that, although the concepts of accountability and transparency are broadly accepted, translating them into reality is another kettle of fish.

Various public and private sector bodies have told Hogan's committee that officials down the line still appeared to be stuck in a time warp that held that the less the public knew, the better.

This was despite the fact that lip service was paid at the highest levels to the people's right to access information following decades of being denied any meaningful information at all under apartheid.

Asset management expert William Frater told the committee yesterday that although some boards and managers in the private sector were waking up to the need to be more responsive to shareholders and employees, many still tended to regard their companies as their personal fiefdoms, which pesky shareholders had no right to ask questions about.

Much the same was said about government departments earlier in the week by other analysts, mainly from the Open Democracy Advice Centre.

This is the sort of scary environment that allowed, for example, former deputy president Jacob Zuma to be whisked in and out of court on Tuesday to face rape charges while the media were denied access. No satisfactory official explanation has yet been provided.

Some might argue that our democracy is still too young and volatile to allow total freedom of access to information, but if so, why pass laws and regulations, and adopt resolutions upholding this worthy principle if the powers that be will decide what can be released?

If shareholders, voters, taxpayers and ratepayers believe that they are being kept fully up to speed, no matter how shameful the truth may be, they may have more patience in the long run if government and business entities make mistakes along the way.

Short-term window-dressing will never solve any of our admittedly huge socioeconomic challenges, as proven by many of the black empowerment deals that have failed over the years.

Honesty and a touch of humility might just do the trick, however.

With acknowledgements to Renée Bonorchis and Business Report.