PAIA Manual
This is the manual of Riot 5 Systems (Pty) Ltd, trading as R5 Systems, published under section 51 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (PAIA). It explains what records we hold, how you can ask for access to them, the forms and fees that apply, and what you can do if a request is refused. We have written it in plain language on purpose.
1. Introduction and purpose of this manual
The Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA) gives effect to the constitutional right of access to information. It lets you ask for access to a record held by a public or private body where you need that record to exercise or protect any of your rights. Riot 5 Systems (Pty) Ltd, trading as R5 Systems, is a private body for the purposes of PAIA.
This manual is published under section 51 of PAIA. Its purpose is to help you understand what records we hold, whether a record is already freely available or needs a formal request, how to make a request, what it costs, and what you can do if you are not satisfied with our decision.
This manual also supports the right of access to personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA). If you want access to, or correction or deletion of, your own personal information, you can use this manual together with our Privacy Policy. The Privacy Policy sets out in detail how we collect, use, share and protect personal information and how you can exercise your POPIA rights. Where this manual and the Privacy Policy overlap, please read them together.
2. Particulars of the private body
The particulars of the private body are:
Riot 5 Systems (Pty) Ltd, trading as "R5 Systems".
Company registration number: 2026/122980/07
We are a fully remote business and do not operate a public office. All correspondence, including requests under this manual, is by email or phone.
Telephone / WhatsApp: +27 79 925 7395
Email: info@r5systems.co.za
Website: https://r5systems.co.za
R5 Systems is a software studio. We self-host our own website and email. Our website is a static marketing site with a PHP contact form that emails enquiries to us. A consent-gated Meta Pixel and Google reCAPTCHA are used on the site, as explained in our Privacy Policy. We do not run a customer database beyond email and project files.
3. The Information Officer
The head of the private body is the Information Officer. The Information Officer is responsible for dealing with requests made under this manual. All requests must be directed to the Information Officer at the contact details below.
Information Officer: Alex Bantjies
Title: Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Email: info@r5systems.co.za
Telephone / WhatsApp: +27 79 925 7395
Contact: by the email address or phone number above (we operate fully remotely, with no public office)
Our Information Officer must be registered with the Information Regulator, as the law requires.
To help us route your request quickly, please mark it "PAIA request" in your subject line or opening words.
4. The Information Regulator and its Guide
The Information Regulator (South Africa) oversees and enforces PAIA and POPIA. Under section 10 of PAIA, the Regulator has published a Guide on how to use PAIA. The Guide explains, in an easy and accessible form, how to exercise your rights under the Act. If you need help to understand your rights or to make a request, you should consult that Guide.
The section 10 Guide is available from the Information Regulator, on its website, in several official languages. You can obtain it, and reach the Regulator, at:
Information Regulator (South Africa)
Physical address: Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191
Telephone: 010 023 5200
Toll-free: 0800 017 160
PAIA complaints: PAIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
Website: https://inforegulator.org.za
5. Records available without a request
Some of our records are freely available to the public and do not require a formal PAIA request. You can view or download the following at any time on our website at https://r5systems.co.za, at no charge:
- The public content of our website.
- This PAIA manual, available at /paia.
- Our Privacy Policy, available at /privacy.
If you would like any of these in another format, please contact the Information Officer and we will assist where we reasonably can.
6. Categories of records held
The table below lists the categories of records that R5 Systems keeps. Listing a category here does not mean that every record in it will be released. Access to any record is still subject to the grounds for refusal in section 9 of this manual and to the provisions of PAIA.
| Category | What it includes |
|---|---|
| Enquiries and correspondence | Contact-form enquiries and related emails, including name, contact detail, project type, message, IP address and timestamp. |
| Client and project records | Proposals, quotes, agreements, project files, deliverables and related correspondence. |
| Financial and tax records | Invoices, payments, and accounting and tax records, kept for the periods that tax and company law require, generally five years. |
| Company statutory records | Incorporation and registration documents and records kept under the Companies Act, 2008. |
| Supplier and contractor records | Agreements and contact details of suppliers and subcontractors. |
| Personnel records | Records of any employees or contractors, if and when R5 Systems has staff. |
| Website and marketing data | Server logs, cookie-consent choices, and the advertising and analytics data handled by Meta and Google as described in the Privacy Policy. |
7. How to request access
If the record you want is not one of the freely available records in section 5, you must make a formal request for access. The procedure is:
- Use the prescribed form. Make your request on Form 2 (Request for Access to Record). Section 8 explains where to get the form and what fees apply.
- Send it to the Information Officer. Submit the completed form to Alex Bantjies, our Information Officer, at info@r5systems.co.za, using the contact details in section 3.
- Give sufficient particulars. Provide enough detail to allow us to identify the record you want and to identify you as the requester. Describe the record as clearly as you can, and tell us the form of access you would prefer (for example a printed copy or an electronic copy).
- Explain the right you seek to exercise or protect. Tell us which right you are seeking to exercise or protect, and why the record you want is required for that purpose.
- Prove identity or authority. Provide proof of your identity. If you are acting on behalf of another person, provide proof of your authority to act for that person, in a form acceptable to us.
- Give us a way to reach you. Include an address or electronic address in South Africa, and a phone number, so we can contact you and deliver our decision.
How and when we respond. We will process your request once any applicable request fee has been paid. We will decide on your request as soon as reasonably possible, and in any event within 30 days of receiving it, as section 56 of PAIA requires. That period may be extended in the limited circumstances the Act allows, for example where the request is for a large number of records or where we need to consult a third party. If we extend the period, we will tell you in writing and give reasons. Our decision will state whether access is granted, and, if it is granted, the access fee payable and the form in which access will be given. If access is refused, we will give reasons and tell you about your remedies (see section 12). If we do not give you a decision within the 30 days, or within any extended period we have told you about, our failure is treated in law as a decision to refuse your request (a deemed refusal), and you may use the remedies in section 12.
8. Prescribed forms and fees
The forms and fees below are prescribed by the Regulations relating to the Promotion of Access to Information, 2021 (GN R.757 in Government Gazette 45057 of 27 August 2021).
8.1 The form
A request for access must be made on Form 2 (Request for Access to Record). Form 2 is available on the Information Regulator's website at https://inforegulator.org.za. If you cannot obtain the form, contact the Information Officer and we will help you.
8.2 The request fee
A request fee of R140.00 is payable on submission, before we process the request. There is no request fee when a person requests their own personal information.
8.3 Access fees
If your request is granted, an access fee is payable before the record is given to you. The prescribed access fees are:
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Every photocopy or printed A4 page, or part of a page | R2.00 |
| A copy on a flash drive or CD that you provide | R40.00 |
| A copy on a CD that we provide | R60.00 |
| Transcription of audio, per A4 page | R24.00 |
| Search and preparation, per hour or part of an hour, excluding the first hour (capped at R435.00 in total) | R145.00 |
| Postage, email or electronic transfer | At cost |
8.4 Deposit
Where we estimate that the search and preparation to make a record available is likely to take more than six hours, a deposit of one third of the estimated access fee is payable in advance. If access is granted, the deposit is set off against the access fee you owe. If access is refused, the deposit is refunded to you.
These are the fees prescribed in Annexure B to the Regulations relating to the Promotion of Access to Information, 2021, current at the date of this manual. If the prescribed fees change, the current prescribed amounts apply. Where value-added tax (VAT) applies, it is added to the fees above.
9. Grounds on which access may be refused
PAIA sets out the grounds on which a private body may, or in some cases must, refuse a request for access. These grounds are in Chapter 4, Part 3 of the Act. In summary:
- Section 63 - Privacy of a third party. Mandatory protection of the privacy of a third party who is a natural person, where disclosure would be an unreasonable disclosure of that person's personal information.
- Section 64 - Commercial information of a third party. Mandatory protection of trade secrets and certain financial, commercial, scientific or technical information of a third party.
- Section 65 - Confidential information of a third party. Mandatory protection of information whose disclosure would breach a duty of confidence owed to a third party.
- Section 66 - Safety of individuals and protection of property. Protection of records whose disclosure could endanger the life or physical safety of a person, or prejudice the security of property or a protection system.
- Section 67 - Legally privileged records. Protection of records that are privileged from production in legal proceedings, unless the privilege has been waived.
- Section 68 - Commercial information of the private body. Protection of trade secrets and certain financial, commercial, scientific or technical information of R5 Systems itself, and of information whose disclosure could put us at a commercial disadvantage.
- Section 69 - Research information. Protection of research information of a third party, or of R5 Systems, where disclosure would expose the researcher or the research to serious disadvantage.
Public-interest override (section 70). Despite the grounds in sections 63, 64, 65, 68 and 69 above, we must grant access to a record if both of these apply: the record would reveal evidence of a substantial contravention of, or failure to comply with, the law, or an imminent and serious risk to public safety or the environment; and the public interest in disclosure clearly outweighs the harm that the ground of refusal is meant to protect against. This override does not apply to the safety ground in section 66 or the legal-privilege ground in section 67.
10. Records held under other legislation
Access to, and the protection of, our records may also be affected by other laws. The main laws that apply to R5 Systems include:
- The Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA).
- The Companies Act 71 of 2008.
- The Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011.
- The Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991.
- The Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008.
Other laws may apply from time to time as well. A data subject who wants access to, or correction of, their own personal information may also use POPIA together with our Privacy Policy at /privacy.
11. Availability of this manual
This manual is available:
- On our website at /paia.
- From the Information Officer, on request, using the contact details in section 3.
- Lodged with the Information Regulator, as PAIA requires.
We will provide this manual in an accessible format on request, so far as we are reasonably able to do so. Please contact the Information Officer to arrange this.
12. Remedies if access is refused
As a private body, R5 Systems has no internal appeal procedure. If you are dissatisfied with a decision we make on your request, for example a refusal of access, the form in which access is given, or a fee we have charged, you may, within 180 days of being notified of the decision:
- lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator, in the prescribed manner (section 77A of PAIA); or
- apply to a court with jurisdiction for appropriate relief (section 78 of PAIA).
We would prefer the chance to put things right first, so please raise any concern with our Information Officer before you escalate.
You can reach the Information Regulator at:
Information Regulator (South Africa)
Physical address: Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191
Telephone: 010 023 5200
Toll-free: 0800 017 160
PAIA complaints: PAIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
Website: https://inforegulator.org.za
13. Updates
We review this manual from time to time and update it when our records, services or legal obligations change. When we do, we will change the "Last updated" date below and publish the new version on this page. Please check this page from time to time to stay informed.