SPEECH BY HON. *CECIL BURGESS* DURING THE DEBATE ON THE PROTECTION OF
STATE INFORMATION BILL; NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, PARLIAMENT, CAPE TOWN. (Part)
16 November 2011
THE MEDIA
12. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I have recently travelled throughout the
country briefing South Africans and others on aspects of the Bill. I was
shocked by the amount of misunderstanding that exists amongst our people
on what the Bill is all about. All without, exception, have blamed the
media for their misunderstanding and all have confessed that it was
through the media that they had developed incorrect and false
perceptions and opinions about the Bill.
13. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I speak from experience. I have had many media
interviews while the Ad Hoc Committee was processing the Bill. I do not
remember one occasion when I was quoted correctly or my version of the
committee proceedings was actually reported.
14. This is not a media Bill. Nowhere in the Bill is the media mentioned
or the object of focus of the Bill. Yes, the Bill criminalises certain
behaviour and unlawful actions, but these provisions apply, Hon. Deputy
Speaker, apply to everybody.
15. It was extremely disappointing when we were faced with these
continuous negative reports. It is in fact the media institutions which
at the public hearings called for drastic changes to the Bill. For
example, one of their major concerns was the broad application of the
Bill. They complained that the Bill applied to all organs of states. We
were told that there were thousands of organs of state. This would lead
to wide-spread corruption.
16. Then we changed the Bill to limit the application to just SAPS,
Defence and the Civilian Intelligence entity (SSA - State Security
Agency). What did the media report, these were "cosmetic changes", and
this has been their attitude, no matter what amendments the committee made.
17. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I found a most useful statement in the judgment
of the matter of Midi Television (Pty) Ltd v Director of Public
Prosecutions 2007 (5) SA 540 in which our Supreme Court of Appeal said
the following about the press: AND I QUOTE:
"It is important to bear in mind that the constitutional promise of a
free press is not one that is made for the protection of the special
interests of the press. . . . The Court then proceeds and states that:
"Press exceptionalism -- the idea that journalism has a different and
superior status in the Constitution -- is not only an unconvincing but a
dangerous doctrine."
18. Hon. Deputy Speaker, as I have said earlier the Bill before the
House as undergone vast changes to accommodate the concerns raised by
all and to make it workable and consistent with the Constitution of the
RSA. The ANC supports this Bill.
EXTRACT FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED BY *LUWELLYN LANDERS*, MP DURING THE
DEBATE IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY: PROTECTION OF STATE INFORMATION BILL
ON WEDNESDAY, 16 NOVEMBER 2011
The discourse around this bill has been characterized by vigorous
debate, which is to be expected. But the discourse has also
beecharaterized by vitriol, vilification, name-calling, insults usually
found in a place called twitter, which is the last refuge of cowardice
and most disturbingly, by blatant lies.
The right 2 know campaign held a march in Durban on 5 November of this
year at which a memorandum was handed to the Ethekwini Mayor's Office.
Amongst other things the right 2 know campaign's memorandum says:
. "any state agency, government department, local municipality and
even a parastatal can be given the power to classify public
information as secret;
. "anything and everything can potentially be classified as secret
at official discretion if it is deemed to be in the "national interest"
. Commercial information can be made secret, making it very
difficult to hold businesses and government to account..."
You would have more success in re-incarnating the dodo than you would
have in finding "national interest" and "commercial information" in this
bill.
These two paragraphs in the right 2 know campaign's memorandum are
nothing more than blatant lies. Elsewhere in this memorandum the
Right2Know campaign sets out their demands. Some of those are:
. "limit secrecy to core state bodies in the security sector such as
police, defence and intelligence".
The decision to restrict the bill's application to the security services
referred to in chapter 11 of our constitution was taken in July or
August this year.
. "exclude commercial information from this bill";
Need I say more?
One wonders whether the Right2Know Campaign should now be referred to as
the Right2Lie campaign.
Some very respected and responsible organizations, esteemed members of
civil society and senior journalists are constituent members of the
Right2Lie campaign. One also can't help but speculate as to why they
would lend their names to the drivel found in this memorandum.
Some time in the very recent past an article was carried in the local
media which carried a statement by a family member of Ahmed Timol who in
all probability was thrown off a building and died. The family member
laments the fact that there is no law that assists people like those of
his family who want nothing more than to know the circumstances
surrounding the death of their loved one; but are unable to access any
information relating to Ahmed Timol's murder, because that information
remains classified.
Critics and self-styled commentators on the Bill refuse to acknowledge
the fact that a very large body of information emanating from the
colonial era, to the apartheid era, until today is in the hands of the
state and remains classified. Such information can only be declassified
when this Bill becomes law.
Waiting for a legal instrument that authorises its declassification,
such as the information relating to the murder of Ahmed Timol, that
legal instrument is the bill before this house.
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