NCOP Hearings under-deliver on promises of public engagement on Secrecy Bill: Tougher questioning needed

MEDIA RELEASE

12 February 2012, Johannesburg

National Council of Provinces (NCOP) public hearings on the Secrecy Bill are currently under way around the country. In Gauteng, two hearings are scheduled for Tuesday 14 February, one in Mamelodi in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality at the International Assemblies of God, the other in Sharpeville: in the Sedibeng District Municipality at the Rhoda Yende Hall. Both hearings are scheduled to take place from 9am-4pm.

The Gauteng Right 2 Know Campaign welcomes the NCOP’s programme of public engagement around the Bill. Although the hearings, on the face of it at least, demonstrate some effort to listen to the citizens of South Africa, they do not go far enough in creating a forum for taking into account serious misgivings about the Bill which have been voiced loudly by many residents of poor communities, NGOs, unions and the media since the Bill was first tabled in parliament in 2010.

Although many improvements to the Bill have been made since then, there remain several serious problems with the Bill as it stands. The Gauteng Right 2 Know Campaign has prepared a briefing document that spells out what is wrong with the Secrecy Bill, and outlines the questions that all concerned members of society – and in particular members of the public attending the NCOP hearings – should be asking of the government.

One of the key problems with the Bill in its current form is that it still does not contain a public interest defense clause, which would allow community leaders, activists, and journalists to expose a state secret if it serves social justice and/or if it protects or promotes the rights of the public. Furthermore, the Bill allows any organ of state to apply for the power to classify information without needing to give reasons to the public or to be checked and balanced by an independent body not appointed by the Ministry of State Security. As well as this, the Bill contains a problematically vague clause defining ‘economic secrets’ as part of national security – opening the door for information privileging the rich and further depriving the poor to be made secret.

For two years, the Right 2 Know Campaign has argued that deep, sustained and sincere consultation with the public is required in order for government to stay true to its mandate to design legislation that protects the constitutional rights of access to information. However, the NCOP hearings schedule does not evidence a genuine commitment to processes of public consultation. In Gauteng – as well as other provinces – the venues for the NCOP hearings were only made public two weeks before the date, then changed at the eleventh hour, and very poorly publicized throughout. This suggests that the hearings were planned in a rushed manner. The implication is that genuine public participation is not a high priority for the NCOP.

The Gauteng Right 2 Know Campaign urges members of the public to attend the NCOP hearings, ask tough questions of the parliamentary representatives present, and demand that the NCOP returns the Bill to the national legislature such that it can be rewritten in order to protect the right to access information and include explicit provision for accountability, transparency and social justice.

ENDS

Issued by the Gauteng Right 2 Know Campaign. For more information contact R2K Gauteng Spokesperson, Dale T. McKinley (072 429 4086) or R2K Gauteng Organizer, Bongani Xezwi (071 043 2221).