‘Fear of young motivation for secrecy law’
The following article was published online by Business Live
Fear of a growing class of young unemployed workers was probably government’s primary motivation behind the controversial Protection of Information Bill, also known as the “secrecy law”, says Murray Hunter, national organiser of the Right2Know campaign.
The Right2Know Campaign is a coalition of organisations and ordinary people opposed to the bill.
Addressing the Cape Town Press Club on Thursday, Hunter said, on the other hand, that the nation should thank Minister of State Security Siyabonga Cele for tabling the bill as it pushed the debate about transparency, and the rights of expression, to the forefront of the publics’ minds.
“It has also meant that a large number of very different people from students, to middle and working class people are now sitting around the same table opposed to it,” he said.
Hunter also said, when asked about government’s motivation for drafting the draconian law, that there was a rise in the security sector of the country that had not been properly taken note of.
“Normally that happens when the state has an ever increasingly (growing) young population of young working class men and incredible demands in terms of the development that needs to be done. Government feels that it needs to secure power and control information as a way of doing this.
“We need to take note of that. This is not just about wanting to fight corruption. That is an important part of it, but that is not the total sum of it. This is about the rise of an authoritarian faction within government,” he said.
According to the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu), about 36% of SA’s workforce was unemployed, with more than half falling between the ages of 16 and 25.
Hunter went on to say that there were many within the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and in Parliament who were uncomfortable with the bill, but had not yet found the stomach to speak out about it yet.
Hunter then referred to several prominent and politically well-connected families and alluded that they were attempting to consolidate their hold on power.
“We have to look at the (Police Commissioner Bheki) Celes, the (Defence Minister Lindiwe) Sisulus and the (former communications minister Siphiwe) Nyandas. I feel that, frankly, these are people who have a huge interest in solidifying their hold on government,” he said.
Hunter said that while parastatals no longer fell within the ambit of the bill, there was still the National Key Points Act, a hangover from the apartheid government, which meant that state-owned oil refineries, power stations and other enterprises could obscure information to people who needed it.
“This would make it very difficult to ensure proper service delivery,” he said.
Last month, the ANC made some concessions on the proposed secrecy law, such as limiting the application of classification primarily to state security agencies, the inclusion of an independent appeal mechanism, and removing minimum prison sentences and ensuring that penalties releasing a state secret are proportional to any harm caused.
Hunter pointed out that these were only verbal agreements issued by the ANC in Parliament and that no written undertaking had yet been issued.
He said that the softening of the ANC’s stance on the bill was due to the prominence the media and civil society, with a declaration by ANC ally, Cosatu, gave to fighting it in the Constitutional Court if the bill was passed.
He said the Right2Know Campaign’s first objective was to have the bill defeated in Parliament, but that there was an appetite by it and other civil society organisations to take it to the Constitutional Court.
“If we had to wait for a Constitutional Court decision the law may already have done its damage. Also, the court can only rule on parts or sections that are unconstitutional,” Hunter said.
