Info bill hearings 'stage managed'

Eastern Cape public hearings on the Protection of State Information Bill were a success, the committee that organised them said yesterday.

Many submissions suggested improvements on critical issues, parliamentary ad hoc committee chairman Raseriti Tau said.

But Tau came under fire from opposition parties and activists, who said the hearings had been manipulated to mislead the public and garner support for the draft law.

The DA said its members had been denied a chance to speak.

The Right2Know campaign said the ANC misrepresented the bill at the first two public hearings, in Western Cape, earlier in the week.

Tau highlighted suggestions made in Port Elizabeth, which included that the number of days that the state is allowed to consider an application to declassify information be reduced to less than the 14 stipulated in the bill.

Another suggestion was that the maximum duration of an appeal be reduced to fewer than the 30 days stipulated.

The lack of public confidence in state investigative institutions that dealt with South Africans who possessed classified information had to be addressed, Tau said.

"These views will be considered when the committee engages on submissions made on the bill."