Info bill should be redrafted: critics
22 July 2010, 10:43
By Political Bureau
The Protection of Information Bill should be withdrawn and substantially redrafted because it would not stand constitutional muster as it stood, MPs heard yesterday as public hearings on the controversial draft legislation got under way.
The bill aims to replace a 1982 act designed to protect the apartheid state. It proposes a system for the classification of information by all organs of the state
"The devil lies in the detail," Melissa Moore, the head of the Freedom of Expression Institute's law clinic, said.
"The message we are trying to put across is that this bill is going to have catastrophic effects on our constitutional democracy and (put us) at risk of being governed by police and intelligence," Moore said.
A bill that had an impact on the constitutional right of access to information had to be limited from time to time to ward off threats to national security, SA Catholic Bishops Conference researcher Dadisai Taderera said.
Advocate Nichola de Havilland of the Centre for Constitutional Rights said the bill should not be used to curtail irresponsible reporting.
Idasa's Gary Pienaar said the bill allowed for an "enormous amount of discretion" on the part of state officials when it came to classifying information.
The Protection of Information Bill should be withdrawn and substantially redrafted because it would not stand constitutional muster as it stood, MPs heard yesterday as public hearings on the controversial draft legislation got under way.
The bill aims to replace a 1982 act designed to protect the apartheid state. It proposes a system for the classification of information by all organs of the state
"The devil lies in the detail," Melissa Moore, the head of the Freedom of Expression Institute's law clinic, said.
"The message we are trying to put across is that this bill is going to have catastrophic effects on our constitutional democracy and (put us) at risk of being governed by police and intelligence," Moore said.
A bill that had an impact on the constitutional right of access to information had to be limited from time to time to ward off threats to national security, SA Catholic Bishops Conference researcher Dadisai Taderera said.
Advocate Nichola de Havilland of the Centre for Constitutional Rights said the bill should not be used to curtail irresponsible reporting.
Idasa's Gary Pienaar said the bill allowed for an "enormous amount of discretion" on the part of state officials when it came to classifying information.
- This article was originally published on page 4 of The Cape Times on July 22, 2010
Pretoria
