STATEMENT ON PROTECTION OF INFORMATION BILL
I wish to record my agreement with the South African National Editors' Forum ( SANEF) statement (17 Nov.) concerning the Protection of Information Bill. For the record, in the face of Dene Smuts' unwarranted attack on me during the Parliamentary debate of 16 November, the 2008 Bill I proposed included a Public Interest Defence.
This was a result of consultation with journalists. The 2008 Bill was never tabled in Parliament but was scrapped by ruling party representatives at the committee stage after I resigned from government in September 2008. I had expressed my willingness to be open to further debate.
I also fully endorse SANEF's protest regarding the Security Minister's, and other ANC MPs, disgraceful assertion that members of civil society protesting against the Bill are agents of foreign spies. This is precisely the mindset that I fear as a former Minister of Intelligence. Consider the impact of such inflammatory statements on members of the Intelligence Services.
They will be encouraged to adopt a mindset already noted for excessive secrecy, exaggerated fears and paranoia. And they are the very officials whom the Bill entrusts with all the tasks under the Bill once it becomes law. The present regrettable and dangerous culture within the Intelligence Services need to be reformed.
I again urge government to study the 2008 Matthew's Commission Report which presents the basis for such reform so that the Intelligence Services may operate in a manner which will win the trust of our people and carry out their tasks effectively and responsibly.
Statement issued by Ronnie Kasrils, former Minister of Intelligence, November 17 2011
Additional comment by Ronnie Kasrils in reaction to the ANC statement of November 18 2011:
The ANC statement does not deal with the substance of what I had to say and instead "played the man not the ball." This is highly regrettable given the importance of the issue and indeed the fact that civil society protestors - far from being agents of foreign spies - are an essential element of democracy and indeed the legacy of the ANCs almost hundred years of struggle for democracy.
Far from craving to find a role for myself I am proud to be a very small part of civil society activism which I was a part of during my years of struggle from the time of the Sharpeville massacre. I believe this is in the finest traditions of the ANC and liberation movement. I raise my voice in the best interests of the ANC and the country's interests and will not be deflected from it by a patently ill considered and abusive statement.
I also reject the insinuation that I am responsible for the disarray within the intelligence services and in fact have been urging government and ruling party to take a serious look at the recommendations of the Matthew's Commission Report of 2008 which has been totally ignored. This has been akin to talking into a toy telephone.
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