Secrecy bill likely to become law

A parliamentary committee has adopted the widely criticised Protection of State Information Bill ahead of its consideration by the National Assembly tomorrow.

If approved, the bill needs only President Jacob Zuma's signature to become law but there might be a Constitutional Court challenge.

Amendments to the bill were referred to the National Assembly by the National Council of Provinces last year.

However, the DA, ACDP and COPE put it on record that, though they approved the amendments, they objected to the bill as a whole and would vote against it.

Opposition parties have failed to sway the ANC into reconsidering the constitutionality of some clauses, particularly those pertaining to national competency over provincial archives.

Yesterday, DA MP Dene Smuts said it would get legal opinion with a view to petitioning Zuma to refer the bill to the Constitutional Court.

Opposition parties have also taken issue with the tagging of the bill as a Section 75 bill, maintaining that it should have been considered a Section 76 bill. This also opened the bill to a constitutional challenge.

A Section 75 bill deals only with national competency whereas a Section 76 bill deals with competency of national and provincial departments.

Spokesman for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development Brian Dube said: "It's getting closer for us to start implementing."