Section 77A Complaints

(1) A requester or third party referred to in section 74 may only submit a complaint to the Information Regulator in terms of this section after that requester or third party has exhausted the internal appeal procedure against a decision of the information officer of a public body provided for in section 74. 

(2) A requester— 

(a) that has been unsuccessful in an internal appeal to the relevant authority of a public body; 

(b) aggrieved by a decision of the relevant authority of a public body to disallow the late lodging of an internal appeal in terms of section 75(2); 

(c) aggrieved by a decision of the information officer of a public body referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of ‘public body’ in section 1— 

(i) to refuse a request for access; or 

(ii) taken in terms of section 22, 26(1) or 29(3); or 

(d) aggrieved by a decision of the head of a private body – 

(i) to refuse a request for access; or 

(ii) taken in terms of section 54, 57(1) or 60, 

may within 180 days of the decision, submit a complaint, alleging that the decision was not in compliance with this Act, to the Information Regulator in the prescribed manner and form for appropriate relief. 

(3) A third party – 

(a) that has been unsuccessful in an internal appeal to the relevant authority of a public body;

(b) aggrieved by a decision of the information officer of a public body referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of ‘public body’ in section 1 to grant a request for access; or 

(c) aggrieved by a decision of the head of a private body in relation to a request for access to a record of that body, 

may within 180 days of the decision, submit a complaint, alleging that the decision was not in compliance with this Act, to the Information Regulator in the prescribed manner and form for appropriate relief.