National Council of Provinces Pass Secrecy Bill

The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Thursday passed the Protection of State Information Bill – or Secrecy Bill – in parliament. The results were 34 votes in favour of the bill, 16 against. No one abstained.

The debate preceding the vote was opened by State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, who said that South Africans have nothing to be concerned about regarding the Bill.

One of the benefits of having a law that protects state information, said Cwele, is that it will safeguard South Africa from foreign spies.

The Bill, added the minister, is more progressive than any other in the world for the protection of classified information.

“Classification of state information may not under any circumstances be used to conceal corruption, unlawful acts or omission, incompetence, inefficiency or administrative error,” he said.

Cwele further pointed out that clause 43 of the Bill particularly protects whistleblowers who speak out against corruption.

Up next was the chairperson of the NCOP ad hoc committee appointed to oversee the Secrecy Bill, ANC MP Raseriti Tau, who argued that there had been misinformation regarding the Bill from the start, and that the media is not in any danger.

A passionate plea was made by DA MP Alf Lees, in isiZulu: “Ngiyacela, ungaphasi lomthetho, uzosiluma, ulume nezingane zethu.” (Please do not pass the Bill into law, as it will haunt us and so too our children). His concern was that the Bill would be used to conceal corruption within government.

Prince Zulu, the Inkatha Freedom Party representative on the NCOP, spoke against the passing of the Bill. Earlier in the year, Zulu had called for the suspension of the public meetings on the Bill, citing poor regard for opposing opinion by ANC NCOP chief whip Nosipho Ntwanambi, as well as poor organisation of the several of the meetings.

No smooth ride

The Bill was first introduced in 2010, and passed by the National Assembly in November 2011, much to the disappointment of the media and civil society. Two ANC MPs – Ben Turok and Gloria Borman – abstained from voting along with 229 of their party colleagues, earning themselves a threat of disciplinary action.

In the same year of the introduction of the Bill, an ad hoc committee of the NCOP made up of members of parliament was appointed to oversee the process of review for the Bill.

On Wednesday 28 November the Mail & Guardian reported that with the ad hoc committee having given the Info Bill the nod, there was no room for any changes during the NCOP debate, and that it would most likely go on to the National Assembly in its current form.

After debating it, the council would send the Bill back to the National Assembly, and any recommendations from them could either be adopted or rejected by the assembly.

The Right2Know campaign, which has enjoyed the official support of several media houses in its advocacy efforts to stop the Bill from becoming law, issued a statement on Wednesday saying that it  would take the matter to the Constitutional Court should the Bill be passed into law.

The campaign has been running for over two years, and although it congratulated the NCOP over its decision to carry out a public participation programme earlier this year to allow South Africans a say in the developments of the Bill, it remains fundamentally opposed to it.

A supporter of the campaign, former Cabinet minister and freedom struggle stalwart Jay Naidoo, told Daily Maverick in an interview in 2011 that the people who want to see the Secrecy Bill succeed in becoming law, overlook a fundamental component of South Africa’s democracy – that of transparency in all governance issues.

Right2Know campaign was preparing a night vigil for later on Thursday evening outside the ConCourt in Johannesburg.

Download State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele’s full speech here.

This article first appeared on CorruptionWatch.org on 29 November 2012.