ODAC's mission is -

• to promote an open and transparent democracy;
• to foster a culture of corporate and government accountability and transparency; and
• to assist persons in South Africa to be able to realise their human rights.

ODAC seeks to achieve this mission through supporting the effective implementation and protection of rights and laws which enable access to, and disclosure of, information.

In order to do this, the organisation has identified litigation as a key strategy in moving forward. Particularly in the area of sensitive information, a pattern is developing where the Promotion of Access to Information Act is used as a 'shopping list' for exemptions. This attitude to information will not change with education and awareness raising alone. It is necessary to enforce the provisions of the Act, so as to ensure compliance with it. There is not enough impact litigation nationally in relation to the Act, and we form strategic partnerships with organisations to build up a portfolio of good cases. In particular, we will work with South African History Archive.

However, there are constraints on this litigation. We do not have endless resources, and the Law Society restricts us to litigating on behalf of and advising those who cannot afford litigation. Furthermore, we have an agenda around building the right to access to information as a leverage right in relation to socio economic rights. Thus litigation we undertake should:

• be in support of our mission;
• be on behalf of those who cannot afford litigation;
• give priority to cases that tend to result in access to information that will promote socio economic justice;
• have a broad impact on the advancement of rights.

For the purposes of litigation, those whose net income is less than R12000 a month we automatically assume cannot afford litigation. Over that amount, we conduct an investigation into the financial circumstances of the individual and assess whether or not they can in fact afford litigation.