The Protection of Information Bill also known as the Secrecy Bill, is the South African legislation that is intended to protect state information. The number of bodies such as the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), have raised objections about this legislature, claiming that it will limit the rights of people who are in possession of classified information. COSATU is said to have criticised the a lot about this bill especially for the lack of clarity when it comes to the classification of information in terms of making it criminal for individuals who are in possession of such information.
There has also been stories published on the Internet for surfing, such as the one titled;
"We Stand Against the Secrecy Bill" , numbering by hundreds of various human rights groups and media houses across South Africa - including the
Right2Know organisation - are protesting against the Protection of Bill. There is a number of
prepared documents, over 3000 , explaining about the Secrecy Bill on the state security website, therefore try and check it out yourself. Within my community, I constantly here lot of people talking enough about this Bill, saying that we as people need to prevent the state from pushing through this issue, and allowing it to become a law. I therefore questioned a number of people whether they know what the Secrecy Bill really is, all of them confessed that they have never seen or read the Bill. However, they had seen advertisements against the Bill on television and they have heard opposition parties to the ruling party, African National Congress (
ANC), calling for it to be blocked.
The bigger question here is, where do we go from her and what do we do to fight against the Bill?
The answer is simple, in a communications' point of view, there is a body called the
Right2Know Campaign (R2K) which is a nation-wide coalition of people and organisations opposed to the Protection of Information Bill. Therefore what are you waiting for, I urge you all to
sign up on the R2K website, for statements regarding this Bill.
To fight the secrecy bill we have to voice our minds out.The government has to know how are we feelinng about no right to state information.It should let media do its work while them as politicians stop being crocks.
ReplyDeleteMoimane, I understand your opinion that is why there is a Right 2 Know campaign, so it is the only way we can be heard and stop the whole thing such as SEcrecy Bill
DeleteThis information bill has really kept people talking and wondering, if the State has nothing to hide then why Introduce this bill from the first place.If we are really against this issue we must support Campaigns like "Black tuesday" and "Right2know" because as fellow South Africans we must also have a say to decisions being made that will either make or destroy our Country.
ReplyDeleteTo me the Secrecy Bill aims to replace the existing 1982 apartheid-era law, which imposes excessive secrecy, and to establish a statutory framework to protect state information, so we must ask ourselves, is this the way our government going to use the bill to hide corruption then blame our media people for disclosing such information. We all have to stand and support such campaigns so that we fight the governmental oppressing laws to our rights, therefore I say you, its your right to know!!! let your voice be heard
DeleteThis ain't nothing but nothing sinister about spy bill so I am saying no to spy bill, did you not see what the previuos regime did because they were allowed to have secrets "in the socalled national intersts"!! Eventually it will be used by the government of the day, in this case ANC, for subversive means and nobody will be able to investigate them. This ANC should know better, they want to use the these laws to make sure they can spy on opposing political parties and individuals
ReplyDeleteYes I agree with you Mapula, the ANC is oppressing us and keeping us from our right of knowing or to access of any information held by the state. ANC also use this bill to justify their corruption in the public eye.So this whole thing has to be challenged and it menaces our rights as citizens. Ask yourself this question; Is this really what we are to allow happen in country? if you answered no, simply help me support the established campaigns that we can help fight against this who thing of the Secrecy Bill, the so called "Spy Bill"
DeleteWe need all our rights.The Secrecy Bill must remain as it is.
ReplyDeleteWe all do need our rights, but the Secrecy Bill is hear to violate our rights as citizens of this country, so it must be banned so thats why we need your support in order to support the media, join the R2k campaign
DeleteThe secrecy bill does violates our rights,but it was established for the benefit of the country,it means that whatever the changes are put to it should also not only be in the benefit of an individual but also as a country as whole.
ReplyDeleteYes, you are so right Mr Frans, and I always ask my self when is these whole afflictions between the state and the media are going to be resolved and make our journalists operate without fear and interference.
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