ANC outmuscles opposition on secrecy bill

The highly controversial Protection of Information Bill was muscled through Parliament's ad-hoc committee on Friday as the ruling African National Congress (ANC) outvoted opposition parties. ANC MPs said they believed the bill was constitutional, even though it omitted the "public interest defence" that could be crucial for investigating allegations of state corruption and abuse of power by journalists and other citizens. In my opinion, this is possibly the biggest blow to the fight against corruption we have seen in years! People found in possession of classified information would face a minimum sentence of five years in terms of the Bill's sanctions.

Opposition MP Dene Smuts of the Democratic Alliance (DA) said: "The omission of the public interest defence particularly in relation to the possession and disclosure of classified information, will have a chilling effect on freedom of expression, including the freedom to receive or impart information or ideas."

The right to classify information is now limited to the defence force, police and intelligence services, with a provision for other departments to apply to classify information on the grounds of national security. This could mean that the Department of Defence could cover up corruption in future arms deal tenders... we all know how many billions were misspent last time round.

Smuts' colleague David Maynier, DA Shadow Minister of Defence, said that the party would be taking legal advice on the bill and petition the President under Section 79 of the Constitution. Steve Swart of the African Christian Democratic Party endorsed this step as well. At least one extra-parliamentary group, the Open Democracy Advice Centre, was already preparing for a Constitutional Court battle saying that they have already received opinion from legal counsel on some aspects that they believe are unconstitutional and are waiting for the final draft to be made available on Monday to hand over to counsel.

I hope and pray that the PIB goes to the Constitutional Court and gets thrown out, as the consequences of its implementation could be disastrous.

Graphic: Daily Dispatch
Research: Business Live