ALLEGATIONS THAT ANC IS BACKTRACKING ON INFO BILL UNFOUNDED

12 September 2012

The African National Congress (ANC) in Parliament notes with serious concern the accusation levelled by members of the opposition in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) that the ANC has backtracked on concessions made in recent weeks on the Protection of State Information Bill. These accusations are unfounded and intended to saw confusion about a process that has been fair and transparent.

After committee engagements on the Bill deadlocked, the Ad hoc Committee on the Protection of State Information Bill agreed that political parties must create a platform to lobby each other on their positions on the Bill. The Chief Whip of the NCOP, Nosipho Ntwanambi, convened several consultative meetings where political parties made numerous concessions and proposals to find common ground.

It was in these meeting where the ANC made several concessions, including deleting a phrase "ought reasonably to have known" that had been widely criticized as creating a reversal of onus and minimum sentences in all aspects of the Bill except on espionage.

During our consultative meetings with the opposition parties, we expressed very strong sentiments about our commitment to fight espionage and all its guises. The opposition shared our sentiments and requested that we clearly define "espionage" and phrase "ought reasonably to have known", which we have done.

We even gone further by establishing a clear criteria that is founded in law that a "ought reasonably to have known" is the person that has "the general knowledge, skill, training and experience that may reasonably be expected of a person in his or her position". Our view is that the opposition parties are backtracking on this agreement due to pressure from their political leaders in the National Assembly.

The concern that the ANC had a change of heart with regards to clause 43, which established a defence for the "disclosure of state information" is misguided and misplaced. Our amendment of this clause has gone far beyond phrases and concepts by creating a clearly specified defence for people who disclose and are in possession of classified state information for ulterior purposes to, among other things:

(i) conceal breaches of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, 2004 (Act No. 12 of 2004) or any other unlawful act or omission, incompetence, inefficiency or administrative error; (ii) restrict access to state information in order to limit scrutiny and thereby avoid criticism; (iii) prevent embarrassment to a person, organisation, or organ of state or agency

We also created protection for contractors, and their representatives including legal advisors, union officials, and co-employees who disclose or are in possession of classified state information in order to disclose wrongdoing.

As the ANC, we believe we took into consideration all the elaborate submissions and concerns that were raised by members of the public, civil society and political parties themselves. Therefore, any attempt to project the ANC as flip-flopping on its commitment to enhance the Bill in its entirety is not only misleading the public and all the stakeholders who have been openly engaging with the ANC on the Bill but also maliciously intended to create confusion .

Statement issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip, September 12 2012

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