Parliament ban ‘not of my doing’
This article was published by Independent Newspapers after R2K members were barred from entering Parliament.
Parliament ban ‘not of my doing’
The chairman of the parliamentary committee processing the controversial Protection of Information Bill has distanced himself from the barring of members of the Right2Know campaign from entering Parliament this week.
“I don’t sell bread and cooldrinks at Parliament. If someone gets poisoned, they can’t blame me,” said ANC MP Cecil Burgess.
“I do sympathise (with the members). My view from day one was that everyone must be allowed (to attend meetings of the committee).
“If you think back to the start, you’ll remember that I allowed the media to pose questions during the meetings,” he said.Members of the campaign have been closely monitoring the committee’s proceedings. On Tuesday, nine activists were halted at the visitors’ entrance and told they couldn’t go in without first getting permission from National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu.
The move came six weeks after campaign members silently donned masks depicting State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele during a meeting of the committee in February – incensing ANC MPs, who demanded that Burgess investigate, and prompting a statement from Parliament blasting them for showing “disrespect”.
The activists were allowed in later after the coalition threatened to interdict the institution, but the meeting had already adjourned.
Without disclosing who had given the order to bar the activists entry, Parliament said in a statement it had taken “precautionary action” as Parliament was a national key point. While it is an offence to disrupt parliamentary proceedings, the February protest was silent.
On Friday a group of about 25 R2K activists arrived for another meeting of the committee – and this time were allowed in.
The campaign’s Murray Hunter said replies were still awaited from to letters written to Sisulu and Burgess asking why some of its activists had been denied entry.
“Parliament’s silence on these issues only confirms the arbitrary and unconstitutional nature of this barring of civil society participation,” he said.
Sisulu’s spokeswoman, Sukhthi Naidoo, said the matter had been referred to the Secretary of Parliament, Zingile Dingani, for a response.
The bill aims to set up a regimen for the classification of state information. But draconian clauses providing for lengthy jail terms for anyone in possession of, or who publishes classified information, have sparked widespread opposition to the bill, which makes no provision for classified information to be published in the public interest.
Tensions are mounting, as the committee’s deadline to approve the bill is in June. Burgess said it was now decision time even though differences over the bill appeared to be “irreconcilable”
Source: IOL.co.za
