March against ‘secrecy bill’ in city

The following article was published online by the Cape Times online.

THOUSANDS of people are expected to march through the streets of Cape Town tomorrow in protest against the Protection of State Information Bill.

The Right2Know Campaign has organised the protest against the bill, dubbed the Secrecy Bill, which is set to go before the National Assembly next week. It will then go before the National Council of Provinces before it is sent to President Jacob Zuma to be signed into law.

The R2K campaign is a grouping of 400 civil society organisations that began fighting the bill a year ago.

Tinashe Njanji, the campaign’s national administrator, said representatives from most of the organisations had said they would be at the protest. “We are expecting everyone to be out on the streets.”

UCT Vice-Chancellor Max Price and SRC president Amanda Ngwenya have called on students to be at the protest, even organising shuttles to the city. “I urge you to make your voices heard on Saturday. This march is one of the last opportunities South Africans will have to make a public statement against the Protection of State Information Bill before it is signed into law,” Price said in an e-mail to students.

UCT’s Students Against Secrecy, a coalition of student organisations, organised a series of events on campus this week to examine the implications of the draft legislation.

Njanji said representatives from Stellenbosch University had confirmed they would join the protest.

Organisers expected thousands to attend. “We are looking at about 3 000 to 4 000 people. We are calling on all South Africans to make their voices heard. It’s after the rugby so people can come and support us.”

Njanji said the TAC’s Zackie Achmat and Cosatu’s Tony Ehrenreich would be at the march. The R2K argues that, even though there have been considerable concessions, the final draft still fails the press freedom test.

Of key concern is the lack of a public interest defence to protect people who publish classified information to expose state wrongdoing.

A group of journalists released a declaration against the bill yesterday.

“Should … President Jacob Zuma sign it into law, (they) will be directly responsible for the erosion of openness, transparency and accountability in South Africa,” the declaration read. “As journalists … regardless of any law, we remain dutybound to protect whistleblowers who help us expose wrongdoing in the public interest.”

Marchers, wearing white, black and red, are asked to gather in Keizersgracht from 10am. The protest will end at Parliament about 1pm.

Source Cape Times