The Protection of Information Bill has been withdrawn from the parliamentary programme, the ANC said on Monday.
ANC Chief Whip Mathole Motshekga told a media briefing at Parliament the legislation had been withdrawn for "further consideration".
Sources in the NEC – the party’s most powerful body between conferences – said it had been decided at the committee’s meeting on Saturday that the bill should not go before the House for its second-reading debate on Tuesday. It is understood the decision came after a presentation to the NEC by the party’s political committee in Parliament.
This committee is chaired by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and includes National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu, National Council of Provinces (NCOP) chairman Mninwa Mahlangu and the ANC’s chief whip, Mathole Motshekga.
Among its other responsibilities, the committee gives the ANC parliamentary caucus strategic political direction.
Three members of the NEC, speaking independently, said it had been decided at the meeting on Saturday that while the bill should not be withdrawn from Parliament, it should not go before the House for debate on Tuesday.
The chairman of the ad hoc committee, ANC MP Cecil Burgess, was adamant, however, that the bill would be debated.
“It is on the order paper and it will be debated without fail,” he said on Monday night. “I am preparing for the debate.”
Moloto Mothapo, spokesman for the ANC chief whip, said that even if the bill had been discussed by the NEC, this would have no bearing on the parliamentary caucus. “The decision lies with the caucus,” he said.
Asked why a caucus meeting had been called for Monday – a day usually set aside for constituency work – Mothapo said the meeting had been planned for last Thursday, when parties had their caucuses, but had been postponed.
The NEC began its meeting in Gauteng on Friday and ended it late on Saturday, sources said.
While it was meeting, more than 2 000 people – including former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils, rights activist Zackie Achmat, DA leader Helen Zille – marched under the banner of the Right2Know campaign from District Six to Parliament to show their opposition to the bill.
The bill provides for mandatory jail terms for the possession or disclosure of classified information and offers no public interest defence to protect whistle-blowers.
Some members of the NEC raised their concerns on Saturday after they were presented with the final draft of the bill by the ANC’s political committee, a fellow member said.
“There were lots of discrepancies that a lot of people (in the NEC) were unhappy with. For instance, the bill was coming to the NEC for the first time this weekend.”
Two of the three members said it was not clear whether changes would be introduced into the proposed legislation. But it would be put on ice for now, they said.
It is known that some in the ANC leadership have deep concerns about the bill – not only relating to the question of freedom of information, but also to the powers that it would give the minister of state security.
Mothapo said on Sunday that as the bill was before Parliament the NEC would not make a call, as it was not a structure of Parliament.
He said the ANC caucus met to discuss every bill that went before the House. “A decision will be taken on the way forward at that meeting.”
Mothapo would not be drawn on whether State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, whose bill it was, would be at the caucus meeting.
A senior parliamentary official said it would be possible for Cwele to withdraw the bill even after it had been debated, but before the question – that it be deemed read a second time – was put to the House.
It was also possible for the House – meaning MPs – to refer the bill back to the committee that processed it, the official said.
On Saturday, Kasrils addressed protesters outside Parliament, saying: “This all-embracing secrecy bill... we smell and suspect is not about the real secrets that must be defended, but it’s to prevent those silly leaders who have egg on their face, who have been exposed by the media for doing foolish and embarrassing things.”
These things included “misusing and abusing” tenders and contracts as well as taxpayers’ money.
The Right2Know campaign has scheduled candlelight vigils for on Monday and on Tuesday outside Parliament, as well as in Joburg, Durban, and Grahamstown.
Hundreds of journalists have signed a declaration against the bill, while an online petition has garnered more that 17 000 signatures.
According to the bill, anyone who comes across classified documents should notify, and surrender them to, the police or a security agency – or be found guilty of an offence and liable to a fine or imprisonment of up to five years.
Disclosing classified information relating to the intelligence services carries a more severe 15-year sentence, which increases to 25 years when the information is handed to a foreign state.
ANC MPs on the committee refused to consider the inclusion of a clause that would protect those disclosing classified information if they could prove it was in the public interest. This is the main issue fuelling opposition which, if the bill is not amended, could culminate in a Constitutional Court challenge. - Political Bureau and Sapa