Secrecy bill shelved as opposition grows

20 September 2011 - 02:42 By ANNA MAJAVU and KINGDOM MABUZA
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Campaigners light candles during a night vigil organised to oppose the passing of the Protection of State Information Bill outside the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg.
Campaigners light candles during a night vigil organised to oppose the passing of the Protection of State Information Bill outside the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg.
Image: The Times

The ANC has put the secrecy bill on ice, but denied it had done so to ward off a split in its ranks and said the law would be "finalised" before the end of the year.

ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga announced the decision only 24 hours before MPs were scheduled to vote on the highly contentious Protection of State Information Bill, which would have criminalised whistle-blowing based on classified information.

The decision was ratified at a special meeting of the ANC caucus at parliament after a weekend meeting of the ruling party's national executive committee as well as demonstrations around the country to stop passage of the bill.

Motshekga's office said the withdrawal of the bill "would afford Parliament an opportunity to report back to the people" during next week's constituency period and for the ANC "to hold further discussion internally and with other political parties, and engaging views from the broader society".

The Right2Know campaign, which co-ordinated civil opposition to the bill, went ahead with a scheduled candlelight vigil in Johannesburg last night despite the ANC's last-minute decision.

Opposition parties, including the DA and ACDP, had given notice that they would challenge the validity of the law in the Constitutional Court if it were adopted.

But Motshekga said that was not why the bill was withdrawn.

"The question of scrapping the bill does not arise because we are satisfied with the draft that has been produced," he said.

"We have come from caucus, we are happy with the bill, all we are saying is that there are some people who want to make further inputs. As a democratic organisation, we have agreed to allow that."

Analysts speculated that the ANC backed down at the last minute because of internal opposition from party members worried that the law would be used to hide corruption. The draft makes it a prison offence to classify information with the intention to conceal a crime, but critics said it would be impossible to know what information had been put out of bounds.

A member of the ANC's national executive committee said the majority view at the weekend meeting was that the bill should be shelved for now. The source said Pallo Jordan was among NEC members who wanted it stalled.

Another ANC official said President Jacob Zuma was trying to defuse internal conflicts ahead of next year's elective conference.

"There are a lot of battles within the ANC right now. The minister of intelligence is battling his top spies. There is the succession debate and it is not a good time for Zuma to do anything that can be used to discredit him personally or annoy his allies. His golden rule is don't make any enemies before conference."

Motshekga denied that ANC MPs had acted on instructions from Luthuli House. He said it was the caucus that decided after a 90-minute debate not to go ahead with the vote.

But ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe told an earlier news conference that the bill would be stalled.

"It is quite a difficult bill. When you deal with difficult bills you avoid running through quick, quick. So it's not a question of putting it on ice; it's a question of a delay. Those are two different things," he said.

Motshekga said he did not know who had asked to make further submissions. "We have just been advised that there are parties who have approached the office of the Speaker. We haven't got the names yet."

He denied he was, in fact, referring to internal pressure from ANC members who wanted a "public-interest defence" included in the bill.

A "public interest" clause would have allowed a whistle-blower facing prosecution to try to justify the publication of a state secret on the grounds that it was in the public interest to do so.

Steve Swart of the ACDP, who was among a handful of opposition MPs who wrested 123 amendments out of the ANC during a year of negotiation on the bill, said the lack of a public interest defence was the last major flaw in the draft.

But ANC MP Luwellyn Landers said the party's position on the public interest defence had not changed.

When asked why the ANC would accept more submissions on the bill if it was not prepared to include a public interest defence, Motshekga said: "Listening to the people is not the same thing as accepting everything because this a technical matter we are talking about."

But he said the ANC had taken note of the thousands of people who marched on parliament at the weekend.

State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, the bill's cabinet sponsor, said outside the press conference that his opposition to a public interest defence had also not changed. He said the bill had not been withdrawn.

In reaction to the delay, IFP MP Mario Oriani-Ambrosini said he had tabled 123 amendments to the bill yesterday. His party would now argue that if the ANC did not want a public interest defence, it should include a public domain defence, in which only the state official leaking the information should be prosecuted and not the person who published it.

DA MP David Maynier said it was a "significant window of opportunity" and that ANC alliance partner Cosatu would now use the time to put pressure on the ANC to include a public interest defence.

Cosatu parliamentary officer Prakashnee Govender welcomed the delay, saying Cosatu wanted the bill completely redrafted. "We don't want access to information to be restricted. We are still against the criminalisation of whistle-blowing and also against criminalising exposure of state activities."

Nic Dawes, chairman of the SA National Editors' Forum's media freedom committee, said he was pleased the bill had been withdrawn for further engagement.

"It's a vital opportunity to complete the process of getting the bill right. It must be changed so that the publication of classified information where the intention will be to reveal corruption and crime is not criminalised."

Sthembile Mbete of the Right2Know campaign described the delay as a "big victory for democracy".

About 100 people stood outside the Constitutional Court to protest against the bill last night. Right2Know Gauteng chairman Dale McKinley said the bill's withdrawal was because of "dissent within the ANC itself".

Lawyers, journalists, actors and members of the Soweto Concerned Residents association and COPE youth stood in silence holding candles. - Additional reporting by Harriet McLea

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