ANDISIWE MAKINANA
Political Bureau
THE ANC’s rush to process the controversial Protection of Information Bill could end up in the Constitutional Court after opposition parties said they would challenge the legislation if it was not properly vetted.
Yesterday, the chairman of the committee processing the bill, ANC MP Cecil Burgess, surprised opposition parties when he announced that the committee would not discuss the input made into the bill, as had been expected, but would instead start voting on it.
Burgess told the meeting that “the enthusiasm to accommodate all different views was an error”, and that the process would take “for ever”.
He said there was no way the committee would have “100 percent consensus on everything” in the bill.
The ANC’s majority in Parliament makes it possible for the party to pass legislation in the face of opposition resistance.
The committee started voting on the clauses of the bill yesterday afternoon, with the ANC outvoting the opposition to remove a clause that stipulated that the proposed legislation should be harmonised with the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia).
This was despite the committee having spent months, with input from state law advisers, working on ways to harmonise the bill with Paia.
The DA, through its justice spokeswoman Dene Smuts, warned last night that if the ANC continued in the same vein and voted an unconstitutional bill through, they would petition President Jacob Zuma not to sign it into law.
Section 79 of the constitution deals with assent to bills and stipulates if the president has reservations about the constitutionality of a bill, he must refer it back to the National Assembly for reconsideration.
Failing this, Smuts said the DA would turn to section 80 of the constitution, which makes provision for MPs to apply to the Concourt for an order declaring all or part of an Act of Parliament is unconstitutional, or the party would turn to civil society organisations.
Rights groups have objected to the bill over the sweeping powers it would grant state officials to classify information, and the harsh punishments set for anyone who makes classified information public.
Smuts has twice successfully petitioned sitting presidents – Nelson Mandela and Kgalema Motlanthe.
“It’s quite shocking to see ANC MPs failing to take their power seriously. It’s extremely frustrating,” Smuts said. “We are heading towards closing off access to information.”
Another frustrated MP was the ACDP’s Steve Swart, who said the ANC was “pushing clauses” and failing to stick to its own documents.
The ANC deviated from its own written submission and made new proposals on the spot while dealing with the clauses at yesterday’s meeting.
Swart on several occasions requested that it submit a document of final proposals as it was changing its stance on other matters.
“It appears that there is haste from the ANC to push through the bill before the cut-off date,” he said.
The committee is to send a report on the bill to the house for debate on June 17, and it would be debated on June 24.
“It’s frustrating when we are pushed to vote on issues without knowing the implications,” Swart said.