PAIA Manual

Prepared in terms of section 51 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA) and the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). Last updated: 3 October 2026.

1. Introduction

This manual explains how to request access to records held by the two private bodies that make up Optimal Africa: Optimal Africa (trading as Optimal Africa Business Solutions), which runs this website and provides coaching, workshops and business diagnostics, and EPM BUZ (Pty) Ltd, which sells workshop seats and provides the Optimal EPM platform at epmbuz.com.

2. Contact details

Optimal Africa

• Name: Optimal Africa (trading as Optimal Africa Business Solutions)
• Head of the private body and Information Officer: Cecil van Niekerk
• Physical address: 13 Penny Street, Rayton, Gauteng, 1001
• Postal address: 13 Penny Street, Rayton, Gauteng, 1001
• Telephone: +27 79 138 4286 · Email: info@optimalafrica.co.za · Website: optimalafrica.co.za

EPM BUZ (Pty) Ltd

• Registration number: 2026/691616/07
• Head of the private body and Information Officer: Cecil van Niekerk
• Physical and postal address: 13 Penny Street, Rayton, Gauteng, 1001
• Telephone: +27 79 138 4286 · Email: info@epmbuz.com · Website: epmbuz.com

3. The Information Regulator’s guide

The Information Regulator has published a guide on how to use PAIA and POPIA to exercise your rights. It is available in the official languages on the Regulator’s website, inforegulator.org.za, and from the Information Regulator, JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001.

4. Records available without a request

The content of optimalafrica.co.za and epmbuz.com, including our Privacy Policies, Terms of Use, Workshop Booking Terms and this manual, is freely available on those websites.

5. Records we hold

• Company records: registration documents, statutory registers and minutes.
• Financial records: accounting records, bank records, invoices, receipts and tax records.
• Client records: enquiries, correspondence, workshop bookings, coaching and diagnostic files, and Optimal EPM account and subscription records.
• Supplier records: agreements and correspondence with suppliers and service providers.
• Personnel records: records of anyone who works for us, where applicable.
• Website and system records: form submissions, newsletter subscriptions and security logs.

Records required by law are available as that law provides (for example the Companies Act 71 of 2008, the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 and the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008).

6. Processing of personal information

• Purposes: responding to enquiries; delivering coaching, workshops, diagnostics and the Optimal EPM service; billing and accounting; sending updates to people who asked for them; keeping our systems secure; meeting legal obligations.
• Data subjects and their information: enquirers and newsletter subscribers (names, contact details, messages, consent); workshop buyers and attendees (names, contact details, company, booking and payment references); clients of coaching and diagnostics (business information, assessment notes and scores); Optimal EPM users (account details and the business records they capture); suppliers (contact and payment details).

7. Recipients and cross-border transfers

Personal information is shared only as needed: with Paystack for card payments, with our hosting provider, and with authorities where the law requires it. Our websites, databases and mailboxes are hosted on a server in Frankfurt, Germany. The hosting provider is subject to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, a law that provides protection substantially similar to POPIA (POPIA section 72).

8. Security measures

Encrypted connections, two-step login for administrators, access limited to the people who need it, software kept up to date, nightly backups kept for 14 days, and a process for reporting security breaches to the Information Regulator and the people affected.

9. How to request access to a record

1. Complete Form 2 (Request for Access to Record) prescribed under the PAIA Regulations, available from the Information Regulator’s website, and send it to the Information Officer at the email address above.
2. Give enough detail for us to identify the record and yourself, say in which form you want access, and, if you request the record for someone else, show your authority to do so.
3. Fees as prescribed in the PAIA Regulations may apply; we will tell you of any fee before we process your request.
4. We will decide within 30 days and tell you in writing. We may extend this once by up to 30 days if the law allows, and will tell you why.
5. We may refuse access only on the grounds set out in Chapter 4 of Part 3 of PAIA. If you are not satisfied with our decision, you may complain to the Information Regulator or apply to court.

To ask for access to, correction of or deletion of your own personal information, you may also simply email the Information Officer; see our Privacy Policy.

10. Availability of this manual

This manual is published on optimalafrica.co.za and is available free of charge from the Information Officer on request.