ANC tries to muzzle critic of ‘secrecy bill’

The ANC has attempted to exclude the most vociferous opponent of the "secrecy bill" from the list of organisations to be invited to make oral submissions on the draft law. The African National Congress (ANC) yesterday attempted to exclude the most vociferous opponent of the "secrecy bill" from the list of organisations to be invited to make oral submissions on the draft law, and only relented when opposition parties strongly opposed the move.

The Right to Know campaign is made up of a host of civil society groups opposed to the Protection of State Information Bill. Its often strident criticism has earned it the ire of the ANC in Parliament. The organisation has consistently argued that the bill should include a public-interest defence for whistle-blowers and investigative journalists, as well as criticising the harsh penalties which the bill provides for those who publicise classified information.

The National Council of Provinces ad hoc committee dealing with the bill was yesterday busy compiling a short list from the more than 260 written submissions to be invited to make oral presentations to the committee. ANC MP Buoang Mashile said the Right to Know campaign should not be invited. The organisation was at all the public hearings held recently in all nine provinces and its views had been heard many times — "what is the necessity of inviting them back?" Mr Mashile was supported by other ANC MPs on the committee, who asked if there was anything new the group could add.

Congress of the People (COPE) MP Dennis Bloem and Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Darryl Worth objected. Mr Bloem said many of the organisations chosen by the ANC were also unlikely to bring anything new to the hearings. If the same standards were applied, then they too should be excluded, but COPE supported their inclusion. Mr Worth said the issue was the quality of the contribution that the Right to Know would be able to make, and "the DA supports their inclusion". ANC MP Nosipho Ntwanambi eventually relented, saying "they can come".

The committee also took the astonishing decision to exclude some organisations on the basis that they had the word "media" in their names. Committee chairman Raseriti Tau said all parties had supported this, including the South African National Editors Forum, and that this was enough representation for the media on the short list. This failed to recognise that some of the organisations the committee excluded were engaged in monitoring the media, rather than representing it. It was by this logic that Prof Jane Duncan of the Media and Information Society: Highway Africa, as well as Media Monitoring Africa, were excluded from the list.

In another key ruling, the committee decided that no political parties with representation in either the National Assembly or the National Council of Provinces could make oral submissions. In this way both COPE and the African Christian Democratic Party were excluded from getting invitations. The rationale was that political parties had a chance to express their views during parliamentary proceedings.

Organisations and individuals that all political parties agreed should be invited include Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, George Bizos of the Legal Resources Centre, the Human Rights Commission, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the Catholic Bishops Conference and the Jewish Board of Deputies.

Source: Business Dau