The concessions the ANC made yesterday in respect of the Information Bill are not concessions made to the opposition but rather concessions made to democracy and the people of South Africa.
In this context, they do not go far enough to address the real concerns raised about this Bill. The Three real concerns remain unaddressed. Concessions need to be made to the cause of democracy by making provision for a public interest defence which enables people releasing information in the public interest not to be jailed for up to 20 years, and a public domain defence which prevents people divulging information which has already released from being jailed for up to 20 years.
Furthermore, it is important to eliminate the provisions which make the minister of intelligence responsible for the implementation of the secrecy law for each department to which it applies when these departments are not part of the intelligence apparatus. The concessions made today by the ANC reduce the scope of application of the Bill, the legislation will nonetheless apply by duty or by option to Departments other than the intelligence apparatus which requires what has become known as the stasi provision to be repealed.
Dr Mario Oriani-Ambrosini MP
