Opposition to ‘secrecy bill’ mounts with public rally

The following article was published online by The New Age:

Nobel  Prize in Literature winner Nadine Gordimer is among five prominent South Africans scheduled to speak at a public rally against the proposed Protection of Information Bill in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The rally will see hundreds of South Africans embark on a symbolic march to the Constitutional Court. The rally forms part of the “Raise your voice: scrap the secrecy bill” campaign organised the Right2Know advocacy group.

The Right2Know Campaign was formed in opposition to the “secrecy bill” and is a nationwide umbrella body of individuals and organisations opposed to Protection of Information Bill.

If the bill is passed it will see a tightening of access to government information with broader definitions of the concept of “national security”. The bill makes provision for the sentencing of those responsible for leaking classified information and even stricter terms for those who publish it.

The government and civil society have been at odds over the bill since it was first suggested.

“The bill still has many outstanding issues on which we fundamentally disagree with the government,” said Dale McKinley, the organisation’s Gauteng spokesperson. “We hope that Saturday’s rally will put more pressure on the parliamentarians to really reconsider what the bill would mean for democracy in SA.”

Other speakers will include former minister of intelligence Ronnie Kasrils, who is expected address the technicalities of the bill. Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini will address the effect the bill would have on civil servants who are in most cases the whistleblowers.

Mail & Guardian editor Nic Dawes and head of Wits radio journalism will also address the dangers of passing a bill of this nature.

Author and former journalist Mike Nicol said: “I do not support any legislation that would in any way curtail our freedom of expression.”

Source: The New Age