South Africa: Opposition party reject Protection of Information Bill

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has requested a meeting with President Zuma in the hope to sway him to withdraw the controversial Protection of Information Bill that is currently being discussed in Parliament, the party is still waiting for a response from the office of the president.

The party is concern that the bill which undermines media freedom, is driven by Cabinet ministers who want to protect themselves from scrutiny. Speaking to the media the DA Leader Helen Zille said it is important all opposition parties work together to fight the bill. “Our initial energies will focus on stopping the bill being passed at all”, she said.

DA Member of Parliament (MP) Dene Smuts, who is spearheading the party’s opposition on the Bill, said the Bill contradicted the principles of openness and transparency embodied in the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA).

BACKGROUND

A special Ad Hoc Committee was set up by parliament to examine the draft Information of Protection Bill. The Bill provides for heavy penalties that could ensnare journalists and subject them to jail terms. The ambit of the Bill is extremely wide -- it emphasises official secrecy in the national interest rather than the narrower concept of national security -- and provides for the government maintaining secrecy over an enormous range of subjects, most of which the public should be entitled to know about.//End//

- August 12, 2010 by IFEX

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Source: www.misa.org  (received via email alert on 12.08.2010)