Sparks fly at 'Secrecy Act' hearings

If passed, the proposed Protection of State Information bill would place a huge administrative burden on government, Lourens van Aswegen, a municipal councillor from Modimolle warned during the Waterberg region’s public hearing on the contraversial bill at the Van van Rensburg hall in Mokopane on Tuesday.

Van Aswegen quoted Section 32 of chapter two of the constitution saying everyone has the right of access to any information held by the state; and any information that is held by another person and that is required for the exercise or protection of any rights. He also cited the provision right after this stating that national legislation must be enacted to give effect to this right, and may provide for reasonable measures to alleviate the administrative and financial burden on the state.

Van Aswegen said the bill would cost millions to implement and uphold which he argued is in direct contrast to the constitution’s stipulations in Sections 32 and 33.

He argued that in the spirit of Batho Pele principles the public should be involved in government which should be as transparent as possible. “There is just too much room for the exploitation of the public by wihtholding information from them under the guise of the proposed bill.

Mogalakwena DA Councillor, Beyers Smit, added his voice to the large number of people who spoke out against the bill saying the constitution guarantees freedom of expression. “This bill, however, seeks to criminalise the posession of of so-called classified documents – even if these documents contain proof of corruption.

“It is not a matter of whether journalists will go to prison because of this legislation, but which journalist will be the first to go,” he said.

He shared Van Aswegen and other participants’ view that the bill should contain a clause which states it is not a criminal offence if classified information is made known in public interest.

Andrew Tibela from the Khulumani Support Group – a social support group for Apartheid victims said for many South Africans little has changed since Apartheid. Many still fight the same struggle for basic services. “For this struggle, we need a free flow of information,” he said. “

The proposed bill will intimidate people and prevent them from sharing information,” he said.
He was silenced by the chairperson, Nosipho Ntwanambi who said the hearing was not a forum to complain about poor service delivery and the plight of Apartheid veterans.

From here the hearing degenerated into party politicking with Ntwanambi calling the shots silencing any dissenting voice that argued against the bill saying it was either repetition of earlier comments or a direct and therefore irrelevant attack on the ANC or that people’s comments were simply irrelevant.

She insisted the hearing was a process of parliament and not the ANC, yet at the beginning she introduced herself and the panel one-by-one as proud ANC members.

In her welcoming, Mogalakwena mayor, Esther Mothibi, even uttered a repeated "Viva ANC!"
This the chairperson allowed, but when opposition party members quietly raised posters demanding freedom of speech when she silenced Tebo Oliphant from the Mahwelereng community consent resident group, Ntwanambi called in police to confiscate the posters.

Kiba Setjatile a PR Councillor from Cope probably summed up the general feeling of those that spoke in opposition to the bill when he warned that the National Party government ended up killing people over legislation like the Protection of State Information billl.