The time to speak is now!

On Tuesday 22^nd November, The National Assembly voted in the Protection of Information Bill with 229 votes for, 107 against, and two visible ANC abstentions.

The hotly contested bill was first introduced in 2008 by then-intelligence minster Ronnie Kasrils. The bill was supposed to replace a piece of apartheid-era legislation that governed the classification of state secrets. Kasrils pursued to create legislation that would protect state secrets but also maintain the constitutional principal of transparent governance, including a provision that would allow whistle-blowers to leak information that was in the public interest without fear of punishment.

The controversy surrounding the bill was clear on Tuesday with fierce opposition from all corners of South Africa. Protesters, dressed in black, assembled in front of parliament in Cape Town, and an estimated 100 journalists and members of the public protested outside the ANC’s national headquarters, Luthuli House in Johannesburg ahead of the voting. In Pretoria, activists organised by the National Press Club waved signs outside the ANC’s offices, reading: “Liar, liar on fire”, “A step back 100 years” and “No information means no accountability”. NPC chairperson Yusuf Abramjee said the day “will mark the start of a dark day for freedom of speech, freedom of expression and media freedom.

South Africa could see serious consequences, as doubts increase amid investors about the government’s public promise to fight corruption. According to a Bloomsberg report, the state’s relationship with the media has gradually deteriorated as newspapers reported on scandals involving senior officials, including President Jacob Zuma. However, charges of corruption, fraud, money laundering and tax evasion against him were dropped on April 6, 2009, the month before he was appointed president.

After the bill was passed, members of the media and public left the National Assembly chamber in silent protest. But their black garb spoke volumes as they symbolically shouted out the “death of democracy”, on what has been labeled ‘Black Tuesday’. This was in stark contrast to members of the ANC who wore bright party colours, that Helen Zille, Leader of the Democratic Alliance, referred to as being a “tragic disregard for democratic values” on her Twitter page.

The bill will now be passed to the Constitutional Court, South Africa’s highest judicial body, where opposition parties will ask them to determine whether the bill is lawful. Zille urges that they have “not given up the fight, (and) invite every South African to join us in defending the open society against its enemies”.

Zille’s statement following the vote explains that in the coming weeks, the DA will launch an e-mobilisation campaign to increase pressure on the ANC to withdraw the bill in its current form. Lawyers had been instructed to look into the bill’s validity.

“We have a network of millions of South Africans throughout the country. Through our social networks and our people on the ground, we can reach in the region of 15 million people”, states Zille.

More than 400 organisations and 16,000 individuals joined the Right2Know campaign that petitioned against the bill. If you would like to join the Right2Know Campaign, you can follow this link: //www.r2k.org.za/