Parliamentarians to relaunch the Secrecy Bill committee
The Right2Know campaign has been alerted that a motion will come before the National Assembly on Thursday that will see the Protection of Information Bill (the Secrecy Bill) being dragged back into consideration. Parliamentarians are preparing to vote to reconstitute the ad hoc committee that has thus far failed to deal with the Secrecy Bill. The previous committee imploded three weeks ago when it emerged that Deputy Speaker Mfeketo had extended the committee’s life without consulting the National Assembly, violating the rules of Parliament. We have received a copy of a resolution for the National Assembly to reconstitute the committee with a deadline of 24 June 2011.
However, the Right2Know campaign does not believe the Bill can be fixed simply by handing it to a new committee of the same members. This new committee would inherit a stack of controversies – for example, the previous committee’s failure to correctly categorise the Bill (thereby excluding the National Council of Provinces from deliberations) or submit it for a cost assessment as required by the Public Finance Management Act. On top of this, months of deliberations have yielded no progress on removing the draconian clauses of the Bill that would see a veil of secrecy cast over state activities and outrageous penalties for whistleblowers and journalists who expose secrets in the public interest.
We have no reason to believe another three months of inconclusive discussion will make any difference. It is clearer than ever that it is time for the Bill to be withdrawn. Its problems are too far reaching to be airbrushed out.
To continue pushing this ill-conceived, undemocratic Bill would be a waste of public funds. Parliament needs to withdraw and re-conceptualise the Bill, and re-submit it to a process of public consultation, based on the overwhelming public outcry about the Bill and criticisms of the previous ‘public participation’ process.
We call on parliamentarians to submit the Bill to the will of the people! This must be the first step towards a more open and transparent society. The Right2Know campaign will continue to mobilise communities against secrecy, and deepen the struggle for information access across South Africa.
For comment, please contact:
Murray Hunter (R2K national coordinator) – 0214617211 or 0726725468
Sithembile Mbete (R2K advocacy coordinator) – 0836862554
Dale McKinley (R2K Gauteng spokesperson) – 0724294086
Quinton Kippen (R2K KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson) – 0838717549
