Info Bill: Mandela Foundation Weighs In

The following article was published in the Cape Argus

THE NELSON Mandela Foundation has stepped in to try to resolve the impasse over the Protection of Information Bill. The foundation will hold a meeting tomorrow between government ministers and officials, MPs and civil society groups to encourage dialogue about the controversial legislation that seeks to regulate the classification of state secrets. The foundation’s spokes-man, Sello Hatang, said convening dialogue was one of the “important roles” of the foundation, with the aim of solving critical issues in society. “You also want to ensure that as you convene, you try to find solutions,” he said. The meeting would be closed to the media and the public to encourage “a frank discussion”. Hatang said the foundation would convene a second meeting that would be open to all.

The invited groups would discuss a report commissioned by the foundation on three pieces of legislation – the Protection of Information Bill, the Protection of Personal Information Bill and suggested amendments to the Promotion of Access to Information Act. “These pieces of legislation are all linked. The discussion will be on how they are linked and who is supposed to be doing what.” Hatang said the foundation had decided to get involved and convene the meeting because “we believe we have not been listening or talking to each other enough”.

Among those expected at the meeting are State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe and his deputy, Andries Nel, head of government communications Jimmy Manyi and his deputy, Vusi Mona, as well as MP Cecil Burgess, who chairs the ad hoc committee processing the bill, and Lluwellyn Landers, an ANC MP who sits on the committee. Organisations active in the Right2Know campaign have also been invited.

While Right2Know’s national co-ordinator, Murray Hunter, applauded the foundation as having taken a “very positive step” in convening the meeting, he was concerned about the exclusion of several sectors such as faith-based and community organisations and unions. “It’s an opportunity for dialogue, but certainly not the round-table, comprehensive dialogue we would have loved to have,” he said Right2Know would engage with the state security ministry on the basis of the demands it had already made. It is not the first time the Nelson Mandela Foundation has convened a dialogue about a burning issue: last year it had a closed session with editors on how the media was reporting on xenophobia. This was when rumours of post-World Cup xenophobic attacks were rife. Meanwhile, Right2Know is holding a public meeting on the Protection of Information Bill at Idasa’s Democracy Centre in Spin Street, Cape Town, at 6pm this evening. The meeting will discuss the events around the processing of the bill and the implications for democracy. Among the speakers will be the deputy chairman of the Human Rights Commission, Pregs Govender; Cosatu parliamentary officer Prakashnee Govender; Imam Rashied Omar of the Western Cape Religious Leaders’ Forum; Professor of Constitutional Law at UCT Pierre de Vos; and cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro (Zapiro).

By ANDISIWE MAKINANA

Source: Cape Argus