AIPPA provisions Issue FOI Bill proposed provisions Section 6 Request for Record: i. Requests for information must be in written form (and in English). Written requests in English make it Section 7(1) of the Bill states that impossible for the illiterate and requests for information must be in people with disabilities to request written form. for information. These people can be assisted to request information in written form, but some information might be so private/sensitive that an illiterate or handicapped person does not wish a third person to know about the request for the sensitive information. Section 7 Fees to access records: Fees may be charged for: i. Obtaining access to any record ii. Any service rendered in connection with providing access to any record. Excess fees are sometimes used to Section 17 of the Bill permits for prevent members of the public from the charging of the following fees: requesting for information. i. Inspection fees ii. Search fees iii. Copying and printing fees iv. Translation fees Section 8(4)(a) of the Bill states that requested information will only be released after full payment of the necessary fees by the applicant. Sec 8 Duty to assist applicants: The head of a public body has a duty to assist people making information requests. There is need to place a duty on office bearers to be professional when assisting members of the public making information requests. Currently, some office bearers interact with applicants in a way that is discouraging and intimidating thus restricting people from requesting information. Recommendations i. There should be room for verbal requests for information made any of Zimbabwe’s recognised languages as listed in Section 6 (1) of the Constitution. ii. There should be provision for the lodging of verbal requests for information. iii. Information officers would receive the verbal requests and then reduce them to writing with the assistance of the person making the request. i. Fees are necessary for example, to purchase stationery necessary to facilitate information requests. However, the Bill should not permit the charging of repetitive fees for example, search and inspection fees. ii. The fees must be reasonable and affordable to low income members of society. Section 5 of the Bill only creates a i. duty to disclose information; the Bill is silent on the duty to assist people making information requests. ii. There should be broad and clear responsibilities for information officers when assisting applicants making requests for information. Information officers must be given the duty to assist members of the public making requests for information. 2