Info bill whistleblower clash looms

Lawmakers will have a final try on Tuesday at resolving a row over the lack of a defence for journalists and whistleblowers in the Protection of Information Bill.

This issue threatens to trigger a court challenge of the legislation.

Cecil Burgess, the chairman of the ad hoc committee drafting the bill, agreed on Friday to have the issue debated again after opposition MPs said it was crucial to find a way out of the impasse on a public interest defence.

"It is the most important outstanding issue and we need to find agreement on the circumstances under which classified information can be disclosed," said David Maynier, of the Democratic Alliance.

Steve Swart, of the African Christian Democratic Party, said: "The opposition is ad idem [agreed] on this issue. There must be a public interest defence."

For the past year, the ANC has refused to countenance a provision that could keep media and whistleblowers who revealed classified information out of prison if a court found they acted in the public interest.

Ruling party MP Vytjie Mentor said last week that consenting to such a clause would mean "writing loopholes into the law".

Burgess confirmed this week that the ANC wants to finalise the bill by next Friday and put it to the vote in the National Assembly before September 15.

Legal experts are divided over whether the absence of a public interest defence would render the bill unconstitutional.

ANC ally, the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) is expected to confront the party if it fails to provide express protection for workers who reveal secret information to lift the lid on corruption.

"It remains our view that whistleblowers must be protected. A public interest defence would certainly help," Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said on Friday.

Craven said Cosatu feared that classification could be used to cover up corruption and that instead of the corrupt party going to jail, the law could instead be used to punish the person who made public the documents revealing the wrongdoing.

"The principle is absolutely clear. This law must not be used to send to prison people who uncover corruption."

Asked if Cosatu planned to press the ANC on the issue, Craven said: "That is certainly our plan."

In late May, Cosatu threatened to launch a Constitutional Court challenge to the bill unless major amendments were made.

Civil rights groups have credited its intervention with significant subsequent concessions by the ANC.

In recent days, the party has agreed to restrict the power to classify information to the intelligence and security services and to narrow down the definition of national security in the bill.

Opposition parties and civil society organisations have welcomed the move and said it reduces the risk of over classification and creating a culture of state secrecy.

Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos said the narrower definition and application would help to bring the legislation in line with the Constitution, but that a provision to protect whistleblowers could also prove crucial in this regard.