Secrecy bill one step nearer

IFP MP Mario Ambrosini has failed in his attempt to delay the passage of the controversial Protection of Information Bill.

The 123 late amendments to the bill that he proposed were rejected by the committee dealing with the draft law.

Ambrosini's attempt at a filibuster delaying tactic failed when, in a rare show of unity, the ANC and the opposition joined forces to thwart him.

Opposition parties have, along with civil society organisations, been united in their opposition to the secrecy bill.

The draft legislation has been revised several times .

The ANC and the opposition have deadlocked on the demand that provision for a public-interest defence be inserted into the bill.

On Wednesday, the bill was passed by the National Assembly after a fierce debate. It has now been sent to the National Council of Provinces for further deliberation.

Ambrosini, who sits on the ad-hoc committee charged with processing the draft law, had proposed 55 clauses, containing 123 amendments, that he had hoped to slip into the bill.

These included the establishment of a "right-to-know commission" made up of five people appointed by civil society.

This commission would receive and consider any classified information withheld by an organ of state from a person requesting access to it, and could order its declassification or that it be made public.

His actions angered fellow committee members. The DA's Dene Smuts accused him of pulling an unnecessary political stunt by introducing amendments that had no substance.

"The amendments are just a sack of filibustering fluff with no more substance than a goose-down duvet," Smuts said.

Yesterday, angry and frustrated members of the ad-hoc committee were forced to sit for two hours going through each of Ambrosini's proposed amendments and voting on them.

Ad-hoc committee chairman Cecil Burgess said it was unfortunate that Ambrosini, who took part in the drawn-out deliberations on the draft law and was present when the committee voted on it, had decided to introduce his new list of amendments.