ANC in new bid to ram through ‘secrecy bill’
The following article was published in the Business Day.
Ruling party drops consensus approach on secrecy law criticised as gagging media, looking instead to use heavy handed approach
CAPE TOWN — The African National Congress (ANC) yesterday began using its majority muscle to push the controversial “secrecy bill” through Parliament — abandoning a consensus-seeking approach and looking to outvote the opposition if necessary.
The bill contains harsh prison sentences for people found guilty of divulging classified information, and has been widely criticised as a restriction on freedom of information. Critics also charge that it will be used to keep scandals involving high-ranking state officials out of the public eye.
At a meeting of the ad hoc committee on the Protection of Information Bill yesterday, the ANC gave notice of its intentions and in effect confirmed fears that it would force the bill into law despite objections from opposition parties and civil society.
The bill sets out grounds for classifying government information and provides penalties for any transgression. It is before Parliament for a second time after the first attempt to pass it was dropped three years ago.
The problems lie with its broad definitions of “national interest” and “national security” — so broad as to allow almost any state document to be classified.
ANC MP Luwellyn Landers said members of his party felt it was time to proceed with a formal clause-by-clause consideration of the bill. Chairman Cecil Burgess (ANC) ruled that a clause-by-clause process would follow, and if the ANC and the opposition still differed, problematic clauses would be put to the vote.
When state law advisers presented a version of the bill that included suggested amendments, opposition parties complained that only the ANC position was reflected, with opposition proposals not even listed as options.
Mr Burgess said that these proposed amendments could be aired again during a clause-by-clause processing of the bill.
“We’ve heard all the arguments many times. We will be here for another year if we have to hear them all again. There is no way that you will get 100% consensus,” he said.
Mr Burgess said the ANC was “digging in its heels” against the inclusion of a public interest defence for whistle blowers and investigative journalists who publicised classified information that was clearly in the public interest.
The committee ran into trouble when discussing the very first clause, which deals with the objects of the legislation.
Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Dene Smuts argued that large sections of the objects clause should be deleted so as to limit the scope of the bill. The objects include regulating the manner in which state information may be protected; promoting transparency and accountability in governance; and criminalising espionage and activities hostile to SA.
The ANC objected to Ms Smuts’ proposal and finally the clause was put to the vote which the ANC carried 7-3, with the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) supporting the DA.
Ms Smuts suggested the bill should not apply to all departments, with those not wishing to exercise classification powers allowed to apply for exemption.
Instead, she said, it should apply to very few departments, with those who wished to exercise powers to classify applying for permission to do so. This, she said, would force a culture of openness in government.
Clause three of the bill, which deals with the application of the law, had been highly contentious because it made the new classification regime applicable to all organs of state. The DA and ACDP have argued that it should apply only to the security services and the Department of International Relations and Co-operation.
They said entities such as the Johannesburg Zoo and the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board, which were organs of state, should not be included.
With the threat of another vote looming, it was clear there was no ANC support for this view.
The ad hoc committee meets again on Friday.
Source: BusinessDay
