NCOP hearings in Gauteng on Secrecy Bill reveal a deeply flawed and highly partisan ‘public consultation'process
The Right2Know Campaign in Gauteng - whose members/activists attended both public hearings in Sharpeville and Mamelodi - strongly condemns the deeply flawed and highly partisan character of yesterday's National Council of Provinces (NCOP) ‘public hearings' on the Protection of State Information Bill (the Secrecy Bill).
To begin with, the venues for both hearings were changed at the last minute thus making it extremely difficult for many ordinary community residents and others who might have wanted to attend to do so. In both Mamelodi and Sharpeville it was clear however that the ruling ANC had organised for its own councillors and members to attend in numbers. Despite this, a good number of independent community and other civil society organisations managed to attend, especially in Sharpeville.
Once proceedings got under way it become all too apparent (at both hearings) that the vast majority of community residents - the very people whose voices the NCOP has consistently said lie at the heart of their ‘public consultation' process - had not even seen a copy of the Bill.
At the Mamelodi hearing, ANC veteran Amos Mpondo told the NCOP panel that residents and indeed ANC members themselves in the area had not been made aware of the Bill and the first time he and others had seen the Bill was when they got a copy at the hearing itself. In Sharpeville, similar statements were made by numerous community residents throughout the hearing.
In spite of this, the Chair at the Sharpeville hearing - ANC NCOP Chief Whip Nosipho Ntwanambi - consistently cut off speakers who tried to link the issue of access to information to local service delivery issues as well as those directly critical of the Bill because they were, according to her, "not speaking to the Bill" and not offering "specifics". Those who spoke in favour of the Bill did not receive such treatment and were given wide latitude to speak on a range of issues.
Throughout the Sharpeville hearing, the Chair would not let people speak their minds on the Bill when they disagreed with her position, ruling them ‘out of order' and making them return to their seats. Further, the Chair often prevented translations of comments from those critical of the Bill, declaring the comments "irrelevant". Disgustingly, the Chair and other ANC members on the NCOP panel in Sharpeville repeatedly tried to belittle those critical of the Bill and made extremely patronising comments about the"education" of community residents.
As if all of this was not bad enough, even though the timeframe for both hearings was publicly announced as being from 9am-4pm, the Mamelodi hearing started over an hour late and the Sharpeville hearing was summarily shut down at 1:30pm (without explanation) with many people still wanting to make their contributions.
When combined with similar experiences at previous hearings in the Free State as well as in the Eastern and Western Cape, the fundamental question arises as to the real purpose of the entire NCOP‘public consultation' process on the Secrecy Bill? Unfortunately, what is becoming all too clear is that the NCOP, and more particularly the ruling party which is pushing the Secrecy Bill, do not really want people to know about the full content of the Bill and to genuinely listen to the many that are specifically opposed to it and/or worried about its broader societal implications for our hard won democracy.
LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD!
Statement issued by R2K Gauteng Spokesperson Dale McKinley and R2K Gauteng Organiser Bongani Xezwi, February 15 2012
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