Eastern Cape Liquor Board Complaint Report

This report aims to highlight an aspect of Sonke Gender Justice’s work within its local government accountability (LGA) project in the Eastern Cape province. Our complaint with the Eastern Cape Liquor Board (ECLB) is rooted in Sonke’s mandate of ensuring access to justice and
information for all who reside in South Africa. Too often, we find that there is a trend of entrenchment of a culture of state secrecy or inaccessibility, which makes democratic processes all the more fragile and subject to danger. Section 32(1) of the 1996 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (the Constitution), provides that ‘everyone has the right of access to records or/and information held by the state and any information held by another person and that is required for the exercise or protection of any rights’. Sonke’s access to justice mandate works to ensure that there is a strengthened and deepened popular understanding of the right to information as both a Constitutional right and an inherent human right.