SWAZILAND Research Conclusions This study has shown government ministries and departments are not open and do not freely give out information to the Swazi public. Out of eight institutions asked for information, only half cared to respond. There is either a lack of knowledge or too much control of information in government institutions as only two of them returned the questionnaires within the first week of the 21 days limit, and the two others did so the following week. The Deputy Prime Minister’s Office (DPM) immediately responded to the written letter, however, they were later asked to return the questionnaire sent to them in a clearer form. Also, the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs replied after five days. The Ministry of Justice and SRA responded in the second week. On websites, all the institutions, except for SRA, did not provide adequate information about the Institutions. The government’s website, which all seven ministries and departments share, is relatively standard. While the standard is maintained by the government’s website, it still lacks relevant information to describe the functions and what a particular institution is all about. While the EBC’s website had descriptive information about the institution, it was the least updated one, while the SRA’s site proved to be the most regularly fed. THE Most Secretive Public Institution in SWAZILAND Half of the institutions did not reply to a written request for information: the Ministry of Education; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC); and the Human Rights Commission, they thus qualify for the category of most secretive institution. Despite responding to the written request for information, the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs fell behind the Elections and Boundaries Commission, which did not respond at all. The respective ministry scored little on the oral interview, which it denied to give. However, EBC’s website was the most poorly organized. In the oral section, the Ministry of Education scored the lowest, with a total score of zero. With 2 out of 20, Foreign Affairs scored last in the written request category. Both the latter and the Ministry of Education rank lowest overall for the survey. The Ministry of Education receives the 2013 Golden Padlock award for being the most secretive government department, as identified in this study. The Most Open Public Institution in SWAZILAND Four of the eight institutions replied to the written request for information, and can hence qualify for the section of open institutions. Although the DPM’s office’s website is poorly furnished, the government department proved to be responsive to written and 78 oral responses. The official who responded did so on the first day within an hour following the request. The Ministry of Justice also responded to a written request, but did not agree to the oral interview. The Ministry received 10 out of 20 points, which is half the requirement. Favourable marks were obtained for the good attitude and clarity of the responses given. The newly formed parastatal SRA proved to be organizationally exceptional, as well as transparent. The parastatal has a toll free number on its website as well as application forms for different taxes to be paid by the public. It is proactive in the sense that most of the services provided as well as answers to what to do, and how to go about it, can be accessed through the net. The SRA receives the 2013 Golden Key award for being the most open public institution in Swaziland Recommendations MISA-Swaziland suggests government staff be friendly and have public relations personnel to improve handling requests for information. Such personnel should be equipped to talk to the public and the media. We also suggest that government departments update their websites to be more relevant and userfriendly.