A range of prominent South Africans have joined several thousand protesters in a march to Parliament in support of the Right2Know campaign opposing the Protection of Information Bill.
The campaign, launched in August, is a civil society coalition of 370 organisations.
The march on Wednesday concluded a week of action in which protests, pickets and public meetings were held across the country.
Former education minister Kader Asmal said that for the first time in his life he was ashamed to speak in front of Parliament.
“Leaders have to be held accountable,” he said. “(The bill) will effectively forbid whistleblowers whom we depend on to fight corruption. This bill rejects the principles of the constitution that we have fought for.”
Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich said people had to unite and defend the democracy and constitution.
“This bill must be withdrawn and replaced with ones that protect the people.”
Ashley Louw, a Delft resident, said the bill would have a a drastic impact on the poor.
“I see this bill as the wealth of the country being kept by the minority. If you are an uninformed citizen and you are not aware of your rights, you will never see political and economic growth and that’s why the media are so essential to this democracy.”
The bill would broaden the scope for classifying government information. Critics believe this would lead to subjective decisions to prevent the scrutiny of possible wrong-doing by officials.
National Right2Know co-ordinator Mark Weinberg said the reason for the campaign was to send the government a clear message that society would not accept secrecy.
“The gains of our people’s struggle for freedom are threatened by the ‘secrecy bill’. This bill extends the veil of secrecy in a manner reminiscent of apartheid,” he said.
“It is one of a number of proposed measures that could have the combined effect of undermining the right to access information and the freedom of expression enshrined in the constitution.”
Mail & Guardian editor Nic Dawes, cartoonist Zapiro and community leaders also spoke to the protesters at Parliament.
The speakers believe that even with changes proposed by Minister of State Security Siyabonga Cwele, the bill would “choke the free flow of information”.
Two memorandums were handed to Parliament’s chief operations officer, Tango Lamani. They were addressed to President Jacob Zuma, Cwele, Speaker Max Sisulu, and the chairman of the ad hoc committee on the Protection of Information Bill, Cecil Burgess.
One of the memos was signed by more than 11 000 people. The other was signed by 500 of the country’s leading writers, including Nobel winners Nadine Gordimer and JM Coetzee. - Cape Times