Parliament’s legal services have endorsed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s concerns that the Protection of State Information Bill could result in the abuse of power and unreasonable infringements of rights, and it could undermine the principle of legality, News24 reports.
Ramaphosa sent the contentious Bill back to Parliament in June 2020.
The draconian bill was introduced in 2010 during Jacob Zuma’s Presidency, and despite much criticism from opposition parties and civil society, it was passed by Parliament in 2013.
News24 reports that Zuma never signed it, but that had he done so, his government could have classified much of the information about state capture that eventually made it into the public domain, and the whistleblowers and journalists who reported on it could have faced jail time.
This week, the State Security Agency told the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development that it would rely on the committee’s guidance on how to proceed.
The Committee chairperson, ANC MP Xola Nqola, said there were three possible options: start processing it afresh; recommend the National Assembly refer it to an ad hoc committee; or consider the bill “exhausted” and “uncurable” and recommend that it be rescinded.
The Committee will decide this on a future date. No party has expressed an interest in passing the Bill in its current form.
[Image: Peter Conrad on Unsplash]