"Taking parliament to the people" has been the swan song of the ANC government since the inception of the other layer of parliament, the National Council of Provinces.

But the initiative to take the proposed Protection of State Information Bill on national round robins has given parliament a surprise.

People on the ground are angry. You cannot discuss a "luxury" bill like this when deliverables like service delivery, education, employment, job creation and poverty alleviation are lacking.

In Guguletu, Cape Town, parliament did not prepare information packs or pamphlets for the public or media kits for the press; neither did the panel chairman articulate the controversial issues on which consensus had or had not been reached.

Parliament assumed the public would be fully conversant with the bill to engage parliamentarians intelligently, as it is done in parliament, clause by clause. It was not going to happen.

For most people, this was the first time they had seen a parliamentarian in person, let alone engaged with them. The people said they felt insulted by how parliament had passed other legislation without as much consultation. Despite all the bills to have come out since 1994, this was their first experience participating with the legislators directly.

This bill could be one form of disenfranchisement that the country will regret, left as it is in the hands of the artful dodgers among the current political apparatchiks.