Protection of Information Bill controversy

source: http://bushradio.wordpress.com  

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.

source: http://www.timeslive.co.za

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.

Troubles erupt for Jacob Zuma and National Prosecuting Authority after DA's victory in court

President Jacob Zuma accused for corruption.
Picture by: (AFP News)

The Star newspaper (March 21, 2012), article, reported about the Democratic Alliance's (DA) victory in court. DA's victory in court is perceived that its going to bring a big headache for the state president, Jacob Zuma and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). THREE years after dropping corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma, the NPA may have to retrace the steps leading to that moment on how Zuma was cleared out of all corruption charges he was involved in.

Important questions to ask yourself would be:

• What is going to happen to Jacob Zuma, if the charges are to be retraced?
• Will go to court and if found guilty go to jail?
• Where does the future of this country stand?
What is the perception by other countries regarding South Africa?

Well, the great thing to be done by the state, government need to launch PR campaigns to polish and secure the state image. It is enough with the publicity stunts caused by the former African NAtional Congress Youth League (ANCYL) President, Julius Malema and disrupture to the AFrican National Congress (ANC) name. If Zuma would go to court I am afraid what might happen to this country. This humorous article shows the DA anticipating long legal battle after Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling that a decision by the prosecuting authorities not to prosecute President Jacob Zuma can now be reviewed by the courts.

E-tolling system impact due to strike



Gauteng residents during e-toll strike
(Picture by: Siyabonga Africa)

I was shocked with what happened last week where most South Africans decided to protest against the idea of the newly established e-tolling system in the Gauteng province. This issue is controversy because most people do not agree with the newly established e-toll system. Labour brokers are accused of being thieves and this comes after one of the comements by Mashudu Munyai "labour brokers are thieves they took 50% of your peanuts thats not fair i support you Vavi please give us feedback thereafter...", After the COSATU General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi explained to them the main reason as to why they are actually protesting: This comment made me wonder as to why people think that their brokers are thieves and that if they are going to pay tax and e-tolls they will be paying a double tax, which can result to many people being broke and facing a serious economic recession, because their families will be poor and the monthly income they get won't be enough to settle their mothly budgets. (Click here for the Hyperlink)

The tolling debate is on prospectives; the fuel levies would never have been suffient and people want to call it TAX. It depends on you see this, wether its second TAX of just robbery to South Africans. The Strike took place almost half of the country, for Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town to name just a few. Now lets ask ourselves, is the Gauteng province or government trying to take control over the taxpayers' salaries or just to violate residents rights? In a communication perspective this is not a good publicity for South Africa especially after the strike costed the country billions of rands due to strike since most businessesess were closed. Sooner or later, if things go this way, this country will face serious economic strains.

For futher reading regarding this issue, please Click here

ANC and Malema issues are affecting us all as South African

It is very amusing that the dethroned

 president of the African National Congress

 Youth League (ANCYL), Julius Malema

 "Juju", calls for ANC leadership to become

 involved with talks with him and settle for some peace after all he has done to the party and to some of the leaders for example by throwing all the insults to his authorities. Juju never stop to amaze because he apparently wants the ANC to forgive and forget about all the mistakes and disrespectful acts he has done. As South Africans we all understand the importance of 2012 for the ANC, not only because of its 100 years of existence but also because of its elective congress this year. Since Juju has been adjudged to five years suspension by the ANC disciplinary committee there has been no peace, this comes after the violence that took place in his home town, Seshego in Limpopo.

According to his supporters, they say the sentence is too harsh and very unfair. The ANC disciplinary commite had to do something about this issue or else it was going to be dragged in a bad media coverage and obtain a bad publicity for having done nothing after Juju's nonsense. The ANC seems to have kept control, after all Juju has put them into. No matter what the problems within the party especially with other parties such as South African Communist Party (SACP) and  Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), there is hope that there will be peace because at the end of the day the country is affected when tensions erupt within the ANC. There is a lot to be done within the ANC in order to restore its dignity, especially after Juju dragged the party into disrupture and sowing divisions within the ANC, which is not good at all. Therefore in conclusion, the ANC leadership should concerntrate on strengthning the party's image and stop corruption, Malema deserves to be expelled because he is not the good leader.

Its about time Malema has been put to his place, and voters next time must be very careful who they elect as their leader, because Juju has been up to no good. People must ask themselves wether this was supposed to be the youth's leader or just a person who wanted to destroy the country.


This is the link to the day Malema got expelled from the party.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aFYZ37xhvs&feature=fvst