Right2Know votes against police brutality AND secrecy – Where do political parties stand?
Right2Know votes against police brutality AND secrecy – Where do political parties stand?
What is the stance of our political parties on the brutal policing of protest? And what are their views on the Secrecy Bill? South Africans going to the polls this year deserve clear answers to these two questions from all our major political parties. Although separate, the links between police brutality and secrecy grow stronger everyday.
As the country reels from a spate of horrific police attacks on unarmed protesters and the more general crackdown on the right to protest the Right2Know Campaign commits itself to defending the right to protest against an increasingly unaccountable and more brutal state. We condemn the most recent killings of protesters in Tzaneen as well as the nonsensical arrest of students at the University of Johannesburg protesting around fee issues,
The Campaign continues its call for a comprehensive interrogation into the causes of police violence as well as the root causes of the dismissively described “service delivery” protests.
As we mourn with the bereaved, to whom we extend our heartfelt condolences, the Campaign’s energies are refocused on addressing the growing strength and secrecy of the security cluster.
The Secrecy Bill, awaiting President Zuma’s signature, not only enhances the powers of the spies, it also makes it easier for our police to continue in secret their brutal acts against the most vulnerable of society. This is in part due to the broad definition of ‘national security’ in the Secrecy Bill which allows for the mis-classification of documents that are not security sensitive but potentially embarrassing. Additionally, the powers to classify given to certain members of the police force, empowers them to make secret any state information. Thus information about torture in police cells, secret plans to deal with ‘unruly’ crowds may be classified by unscrupulous officers.
The use of such secrecy cuts to the core of our constitutional values and our democracy itself. It also points to the growing might of our security cluster-the police, the intelligence and the defence forces. Coupled to this, the increased use of the security cluster as the private service of the President and of the ruling party’s interests provokes deep concern about the lack of transparency and accountability in our intelligence services.
The deployment of state intelligence agents to screen attendees of the ANC manifesto launch in Mpumalanga, in order to root out those who might boo the President, is the most recent example of this. The attempt to silence the public protector’s findings on misappropriation of state funds in Nkandla is another.
As we enter into our fourth general elections as a free country, we cannot ignore the growing infringements upon our democratic process by unelected and unaccountable spooks. We must resist this trend. The right to know, speak, march, boo and read whatever and whoever we want lies at the heart of our movement. It is also the source of our hard-won freedoms.
Political party representatives regardless of ideology have a duty to defend these fundamental rights that are the basis of any meaningful democracy.
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FOR COMMENT:
Dale McKinley: 072 429 4086
Bongani Xezwi: 071 043 2221
