ANC in rush to sell contested secrecy bill

AS the National Assembly prepares to vote on the Protection of Information Bill, the ANC has finally hit the road to hear what its constituencies think about the contentious draft law.

The ruling party has sent out its MPs to all the provinces to explain the intricacies of the secrecy bill and how it affects them. But alliance partner Cosatu - which has been critical of the proposed law - has dismissed this as too little too late.

Earlier this week, Cosatu accused the ANC of "abandoning" the public consultation process. It also threatened to challenge the bill in the Constitutional Court if it is passed in its current form.

Yesterday, Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said a range of hastily convened weekend meetings would not afford the ANC enough time to consult all stakeholders.

"We need more time. Clearly that time scale is not enough given the importance of the issue. There must be genuine consultations with all important stakeholders, including Cosatu," Craven said.

The bill has been referred to the National Council of Provinces for further deliberations and then back to the National Assembly for a vote on Wednesday, with the ANC expected to use its majority to ram it through.

On Friday evening, the ANC caucus issued a statement outlining a weekend-long public consultation process and venues across the country.

ANC caucus spokesman Moloto Mothapo denied that the public consultation process had been hastily arranged. He said they conducted an initial roadshow to all the provincial legislatures to explain the bill to ANC MPLs. The public part of consultations was next on the agenda, he said.

"From the onset we said this is going to be taken to the people, we would take everybody on board but as soon as we finished [consulting] our parliamentary caucuses," he said.

Mothapo said public consultations would continue even if the bill is passed. "Public consultations will continue ... this will not come to an end just because the bill has been passed by the National Assembly," he said.

But Craven said it was pointless to continue discussions after the bill is signed into law. "It doesn't make sense. If it is a law it has to be obeyed, you cannot consult at that stage," he said.

Civil society and media groups have decried the omission of a public interest clause that can be used as a defence for publishing classified information on the basis that the public has a right to know. Cosatu has expressed serious reservations with the bill that aims to criminalise the possession and disclosure of classified state information.

It objects to the current definition of national interest, saying it has been broadened to criminalise the exposure of "economic, scientific or technological secrets and acts that have diplomatic implications".

"Public interest must necessarily overlap with a correctly construed definition of national interest, and in many instances should even override the protection for diplomatic relations or against economic harm, especially where it is necessary to expose serious irregularities or corruption," said the labour federation in a statement.

The ANC has meanwhile blasted former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils for taking yet another swipe at the contentious bill. ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu accused Kasrils of wanting to rule intelligence from the grave.

"The ANC finds it strange and shocking that [Kasrils] wants to rule the Department of Intelligence, now State Security, from the grave through his negative commentary on the Information Bill," Mthembu said.

"Kasrils failed to deal with the mess in the then department of intelligence, where he was a minister, which left us vulnerable to machinations of foreign spies, information peddlers and espionage activities," he said.

The rebuke came after Kasrils condemned as "disgraceful" State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele's comments during a debate on the bill in the National Assembly where he labelled civil society groups members opposed to the bill as agents for foreign spies.