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GCIS<\/p>\n
President Jacob Zuma addresses the Press Gallery Association at Tuynhuys in Cape Town. Photo: GCIS<\/p>\n
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Related Stories<\/p>\n
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Pretoria – President Jacob Zuma has backed off from signing the controversial secrecy bill into law, saying it is \u201cirrational\u201d and does not pass constitutional muster. <\/p>\n
The Protection of State Information Bill was passed by Parliament earlier this year and was referred to Zuma to be signed into law. <\/p>\n
The partial climbdown by Zuma on Thursday was seen as a morale-boosting victory for a coalition of media, civil society and opposition parties that had vehemently opposed the bill. <\/p>\n
While the Right2Know Campaign and the South African National Editors\u2019 Forum (Sanef) welcomed Zuma\u2019s decision to refer the bill back to MPs, they said concerns remained. <\/p>\n
Late on Thursday, party chief whips in the National Assembly were locked in consultation meetings aimed at establishing an ad hoc committee to reconsider the bill. <\/p>\n
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MPs had adopted the bill on April 25 with 189 votes in favour, 74 against and one abstention. <\/p>\n
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After receiving a letter from Zuma informing him that he had reservations about the constitutionality of two clauses, National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu referred the bill back to MPs in terms of Section 79 (1) of the constitution. <\/p>\n
The section allows the president to send a bill back to Parliament for reconsideration. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe whips are consulting on the establishment of an ad hoc committee for consideration of the president\u2019s reservations. Once the committee has been established, the bill, together with the president\u2019s reservations, will be referred to it for consideration and a report in terms of the Joint Rules of Parliament,\u201d Sisulu said. <\/p>\n
Right2Know Campaign spokesman Murray Hunter said Zuma\u2019s move was an important victory for social justice and accountability. <\/p>\n
\u201cParliament must now take up the baton and remove every draconian measure from the bill,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
He called on MPs to \u201credeem\u201d themselves by redrafting the bill. <\/p>\n
Sanef chairman Mpumelelo Mkhabela said the forum continued to be concerned because the bill \u201ccriminalises the possession and dissemination of classified state information even if such information is in the public interest\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cSanef has consistently argued for the inclusion of a public interest defence clause to protect journalists and whistle-blowers. Sanef is concerned about the provisions that allow for broad classification of information, including that which has nothing to do with security of the state,\u201d Mkhabela said. <\/p>\n
The delegating of authority to \u201cundefined state officials\u201d to classify information was also worrying. <\/p>\n
Zuma said the bill was incoherent. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have referred the bill to the National Assembly for reconsideration insofar as sections of the bill, in particular Sections 42 and 45, lack meaning and coherence, consequently are irrational and accordingly are unconstitutional,\u201d he told the press at Parliament. <\/p>\n
Section 42 refers to the \u201cimproper classification\u201d of information and focuses on any person who knowingly classifies information \u201cto achieve any purpose ulterior to this act, including the classification of information in order to conceal breaches of the law\u201d. <\/p>\n
Section 45 relates to the written authority required from the national director of public prosecutions before criminal charges carrying a penalty of imprisonment of five years or more may be instituted. <\/p>\n
DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko and ANC chief whip Stone Sizani, as well as IFP MP Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, welcomed Zuma\u2019s decision. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis follows the DA\u2019s petition in accordance with Section 79 of the constitution. Once published, the DA will analyse these details and respond,\u201d said Mazibuko. <\/p>\n
Sizani said: \u201cWe are confident that the amendments would strengthen the bill.\u201d <\/p>\n
Oriani-Ambrosini, who has been absent from Parliament for health reasons, said he would sit on the bill\u2019s ad hoc committee \u201cto ensure our freedom of speech will not be curtailed\u201d. <\/p>\n
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Political Bureau<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" GCIS President Jacob Zuma addresses the Press Gallery Association at Tuynhuys in Cape Town. Photo: GCIS Related Stories Info Bill move a \u2018victory for social justice\u2019 Zuma sends Info Bill back to Assembly Pretoria – President Jacob Zuma has backed off from signing the controversial secrecy bill into law, saying it is \u201cirrational\u201d and does […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-22611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22611\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}