HOA stonewalls on releasing minutes of Trustee's meetings - 5 months and counting

It is now 5 months since I first asked for the minutes of the Trustees meetings for  2018.  I am not the only owner who has been asking, either.   Despite the Constitution stating that the minutes should be "made available" to  members, the HOA continues to drag its feet.  In previous years, other groups  of trustees published the minutes on the HOA website, without even asking for them. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?    Here is the timeline of emails: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- February 22, 2019

Dear Paul,

In December 2018, I asked for the minutes of the trustee's meetings for 2018 to be posted on the HOA website. As they were in the past.  This was ignored.

I am now asking that the minutes of the meetings held in 2018 be sent to me.

 
Sincerely,

Ken Rutherford

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February 26, 2019

Hi Ken,

Was this request per email and to whom? Plse resend as I cannot locate same.

Regards

Paul

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February 26, 2019

I resent my original email.

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April 8, 2019.

Dear Paul,

To recap:

I first requested the 2018 Trustees meeting minutes on December 18, 2018

I requested them again on February 22, 2019

On February 26, 2019, you wrote asking me to resend my original request as you couldn't "locate same". I resent my original email on February 26, 2019.

Om March 6, 2019, you called me and told me that the lawyer was investigating whether giving me access to the minutes was a violation of the POPI Act. You told me that this would known very shortly.

Today, April 8 2019, over a month later, I have not had any response. It is hard not to think that the strategy of the HOA is one of hoping I forget my request.  As this has been dragged on for so long, I also request the minutes of all trustees meetings held to date in 2019.

But in the meantime, I have investigated the POPI Act, and I see:

Section 11: Personal information may only be processed if — (c) processing complies with an obligation imposed by law on the responsible party; (d) processing protects the legitimate interests of the data subject; (e) processing is necessary for pursuing the legitimate interests of the responsible party or the third party (the other owners in the scheme) to whom the information is supplied.

As the minutes are the “legitimate interests” of mine and the rest of the owners, and according to the TIHA Constitution must be shared with owners, the trustees cannot hide them from us using the POPI Act.

Please communicate with me in writing.

Sincerely, Ken Rutherford

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April 15, 2019

Hi Ken,

Please accept my apologies for this unintended delay.

Members may inspect the minutes in terms of the Constitution.

I was instructed a while ago to prepare an ‘access to minutes’ document for dissemination to members with legal input into said document.  

This document will be finalized shortly and will spell out a process for members to inspect same, taking into account POPI and PAIA (Promotion of Access to Information Act).

Once same is finalized it will be disseminated to members.

I am endeavouring to expedite the process.

Regards, Paul Burchell

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Extract from the Thesen Islands HOA Constitution, adopted at the AGM on January 3, 2019: 

19.11 The TRUSTEES shall: 19.11.1 ensure that minutes are taken of all scheduled meetings of the TRUSTEES, although not necessarily verbatim, which minutes shall be reduced to writing without undue delay after the meeting has closed and shall then be certified correct by the CHAIRMAN of the meeting; 19.11.2 cause such minutes to be kept of all scheduled meetings of the TRUSTEES in a minute book of meetings of TRUSTEES kept for that purpose; 19.11.3 keep all minute books of meetings of TRUSTEES in perpetuity; 19.11.4 on the written application of any MEMBER, make minutes of scheduled TRUSTEES and General meetings available for inspection only by such MEMBER subject to all necessary steps being taken by the TRUSTEES to ensure the due and appropriate protection of privacy of persons and confidentiality of subject matter in any such inspection process.