1. Introduction
PAIA gives every person the right to request access to records held by public and private bodies, subject to limited exceptions (e.g. third-party privacy, commercial confidentiality, legal privilege). This manual is published in terms of section 51 of PAIA and is intended to make it as easy as possible to exercise that right.
The Information Regulator's official "Guide on how to use PAIA" is available in all 11 official languages at inforegulator.org.za/paia/.
2. Particulars of DV Media
- Name of body: DV Media (Pty) Ltd (trading as “DV Media”)
- Type of body: Private body (small business)
- Postal & physical address: Eastern Cape, South Africa (full address provided on request)
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: dv-media.co
3. Head of the body / Information Officer
In terms of section 1 of PAIA and section 55 of POPIA, the Head of the Body is the Information Officer by default. All PAIA requests must be addressed to the Information Officer at [email protected].
4. Records held by DV Media
DV Media holds the following categories of records in the course of its photography, video and content-creation business, and the property-referral programme:
- Client and shoot records. Booking enquiries, communications, shoot details (address, agency, package), photographer/editor assignments, delivered files (Google Drive links), invoices, agent approvals.
- Financial records. Invoices issued and received, payment reconciliations, supplier records, tax records. Most live in Xero.
- Marketing records. Newsletter subscriber list (managed via Brevo), contact-form submissions, suppression list (email hashes only, used to honour unsubscribes), consent audit trail per signup.
- Property referral records. Homeowner contact details, property details and intent, agent matching decisions, referral outcome and any tail-period transactions, history of state transitions, email and in-app notifications fired.
- Operational records. Calendar of shoots, internal scheduling, staff and contractor records (photographers, editors), staff payment reconciliations.
- System and audit logs. Authentication logs, API access logs, OAuth refresh logs, error and security event logs.
5. Records automatically available (no formal request required)
The following are published on dv-media.co and may be accessed by anyone without making a PAIA request:
6. Records held under other legislation
Some records are kept for specific legislative reasons and are subject to the retention rules of those Acts:
- Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 — financial records, 5-year retention.
- Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991 — VAT records, 5-year retention.
- Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 — staff and contractor records, 3-year retention from end of engagement.
- Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 — consent and processing audit trails, kept for the duration of the relationship plus standard retention periods.
7. How to request access to a record
To request access to a record we hold:
- Complete the prescribed PAIA request form — Form 2 (PAIA Regulations, Annexure B) if requesting your own information, or Form 2 nonetheless if requesting information about another person (you must include reasons and authorisation in that case). The current forms are available at inforegulator.org.za/paia/.
- Email the completed form to [email protected].
- Pay the request fee (see Fees below). We will acknowledge your request within 30 days and respond with a decision within the statutory timeframe.
- If access is granted, an access fee may apply depending on format and volume (see Fees below).
Note: under POPIA s.23, you may also make a less formal data-subject access request directly by email — you do not need to use a PAIA form for this. Both routes are available.
8. Fees
The fees prescribed in the PAIA Regulations are as follows. These may be updated by the Information Regulator from time to time — the current schedule is at inforegulator.org.za/paia/.
- Request fee: R50, payable on submission of the request. Waived for requests for the requester's own personal information.
- Access fee: charged only if access is granted. Examples:
- R1.10 per A4 photocopy
- R0.75 per printed page
- R40.00 per hour search and preparation
- Electronic copies on USB or cloud delivery: actual cost of the medium plus reasonable preparation time
- Postage and courier: actual cost
- Deposit: if the access fee is expected to exceed R100, a one-third deposit may be requested before work begins.
9. Grounds for refusal
Access to a record may be refused on the grounds set out in Chapter 4 of Part 3 of PAIA. The most common are:
- Protection of third-party personal information (s.63).
- Protection of third-party commercial information (s.64).
- Legal privilege (s.67).
- Protection of confidential information in commercial relationships (s.68).
- Records relating to research that is still in progress (s.69).
Where part of a record falls under an exemption and part does not, the exempt portion will be severed and the remainder released where reasonably possible (s.28).
10. Remedies if your request is refused
If we refuse your request (in whole or in part), you may:
- Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator within 180 days of our decision. The complaint form (POPIA/PAIA08) and full contact details are at inforegulator.org.za.
- Apply to a competent court for relief, after exhausting the Information Regulator complaint route.
11. Availability of this manual
This manual is available:
- On the DV Media website at dv-media.co/paia-manual/.
- By email request to [email protected].
- In English only at this time. We will accommodate reasonable requests for translation assistance for non-English readers.
12. Updates
This manual is reviewed annually and whenever the business undergoes a material change (new categories of records, change of contact details, change of Information Officer). The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.
Related: POPIA Statement · Privacy Policy · Terms of Service