Durban Protest, Sat 5 Nov Stand up for the Right to Know!

Hundreds of people representing communities of Durban and surrounding area are joining under the banner of the Right2Know campaign, to speak out against secrecy at a march this Saturday.

On 5 November, gathering at 8.30am and embarking at 9am, we will join together on a peaceful march from Botha Park to the Durban City Hall, where we will present a memorandum on the stairs of the City Hall to the City Manager, Dr Mike Sutcliffe, a representative of the Premier’s office, and a representative of Eskom. Members of the public can find out more, and invite others, by connecting on Facebook here.

Background
Despite recent delays on voting the Secrecy Bill through Parliament, in its current form it undermines our struggles to access information and ensure a transparent and open democracy. The ruling party has promised to host public engagements on the Secrecy Bill, but ordinary citizens are already joining together to raise their concerns.

As civil society in KwaZulu-Natal prepares for COP17, we are especially concerned about provisions in the Secrecy Bill that could see the power to make secrets extended to officials in the energy sector, where crucial matters of community health and safety are too often hidden from the public eye – all in the name of “national security”. For years, communities have struggled to access basic information that we need to hold Eskom, the Ministry of Energy, the coal sector, and the nuclear sector to account.

It is clear that the Secrecy Bill threatens to undermine our existing struggles for openness and accountability at a time when the powerful already have too many secrets!

We are calling for the Secrecy Bill to be rewritten to meet R2K’s 7-Point Freedom Test and demanding open and transparent governance.

The struggle for access to information affects all social justice struggles!

• We say no electricity hikes!
• We need access to water and sanitation!
• We need access to decent housing!
• We need access to a healthy and clean environment!

South Africa needs delivery, not secrecy!

For media comment please call members of R2K KZN:
Bandile Mdlalose: 0714242815 Barbara Jafter: 0832483213 China Ngubane: 0726519790 Cyril Mwandla: 0849166543 Des D’Sa: 0839826939 Eric Tate: 0829249822 Mazwai Nzimand: 0742228601 Mona Pilane: 0736811234 Roy Chetty: 0823348461 Sidney Govindsamy: 0829038056 Tamara Fengen: 0836298769 Zelda Norris: 0840347361