EMENT from Right2Know CampaignThis serves to notify all media that the Right2Know Campaign will hold protest pickets at six separate venues across South Africa on Tuesday 22 November 2011, and from 21-23 November in Cape Town.
DATES: TUESDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2011
(Cape Town: 21-23 November 2011)
PICKET 01:
Johannesburg 08h00 – 09h00
Chief Albert Luthuli House, 54 Sauer Street, Johannesburg
For more info, contact Dale McKinley on 072 429 4086
PICKET 02:
Vereeniging 10h00 – 11h00
The ANC Constituency Office in Vereeniging - 31 Senator Marks Avenue, Vereeniging.
For more info, contact Abram Moketsi on 0838787894
PICKET 03:
Soweto 09h00 – 10h00
Soweto, at the Hector Petersen Museum square, Soweto.
For more info contact Bongani Xezwi on 0710432221
PICKET 04:
Pretoria 08h00 – 09h00
In Pretoria, outside the ANC Constituency office in central Pretoria. Address: People's Bank Building, 200 Pretoria Street, Pretoria.
For more info contact Gaahele on 0796060654
PICKET 05:
Durban 18h00 – 20h00
Durban City Hall
For more info call Des D'Sa 083 982 6939
PICKET 06:
Cape Town
(Mon, Tues & Weds)
Monday 21 Nov 13h00 – 14h00
Tuesday 22 Nov 13h00 – 14h00
Wednesday 23 Nov 13h00 – 14h00
Outside Parliament, Plein Street
(Bring ID book or driver's license to gain access to Parliament.)
The Right2Know Campaign will picket at six separate venues on Tuesday morning - a day before the Secrecy Bill is due for its final presentation in the National Assembly - in a show of outrage at the ANC’s move to ram through the Bill without the promised process of proper and meaningful public consultation.
The return of the Secrecy Bill to parliament has taken place without any of the promised processes for further public consultation, to which the ANC committed itself on 19 October, when the ANC Chief Whip's office promised a transparent and clearly road-mapped process to "ensure that as many people as possible, regardless of their political allegiance, get an opportunity to have a say on the draft legislation before it is passed into law." Communities were promised ample notice of upcoming meetings to express their views on the Secrecy Bill.
Any public engagement has now been rendered meaningless by moving the Bill back to parliament, showing the Chief Whip's promises to be utterly empty. A number of civil society voices, including the Right2Know campaign, cautiously welcomed the ANC's proposal for further public engagement, and chose to accept in good faith the ANC's commitment to such a process. This move therefore completely betrays any good faith communities had in the process.
It is crucial to point out that whatever amendments made to the Secrecy Bill prior to the finalised version now tabled in parliament were all the result of the demands and sustained pressure from a range of civil society organisations, including the R2K Campaign. Regardless of these previous amendments, the Secrecy Bill which has now been returned to Parliament by the ANC without further amendment, abjectly fails to meet many of the most basic demands of the R2K Campaign as contained in the 7 Point Freedom Test
• Harsh prison sentences of up to 25 years, with no protection for whistleblowers except for the most minor offences. Even those who harbour whistleblowers may face prison sentences.
• Anyone who comes into possession of a state secret faces up to five years in prison if they do not hand the information to police or security services.
• Last-minute drafting by the Parliamentary ad hoc committee ensured that the Secrecy Bill would trump the Promotion of Access to Information Act which promotes citizens' right to know.
• The Bill shuts off the state security agencies from any kind of scrutiny or accountability to the public.
• There is no independent appeals mechanism available to citizens who wish to access information that may have been classified as secret without justification.
The ANC’s insistence in pushing through with the Secrecy Bill in its present version, sees the dark clouds of the securocrat past gathering around us. What is particularly troubling is that this Bill abrogates the ANC’s own struggle history, its stated commitments to an open/transparent state and society and will provide the enabling (legal) framework/cover for the future use of State Security agencies for party political and factionalist purposes that could see South Africa moving backwards to the kind of secret society that so many fought so hard against.
The kind of unfortunate cheap politicking and name-calling that ANC representatives have engaged in over the last week cannot and will not cover-up for the hard fact that this Bill poses a real and present danger to our collectively hard-won democracy. Yes, we need a piece of legislation that can replace the old 1982 Protection of Information Act but no, this is not that legislation. The stakes are far too high for ours and future generations to allow this Secrecy Bill to become law; a law that has the potential to take us right back to the same secret society that we thought had been vanquished.
To voice our outrage the Right2Know Campaign will hold six separate protest pickets across South Africa on Tuesday 22 November. In Cape Town the Right2Know Campaign will picket outside of parliament from Monday 21 – Wednesday 23 November. We demand that the current version of the Secrecy Bill be withdrawn, that a process of meaningful public consultation must take place, and that the bill should meet the list of demands contained in the R2K 7 point freedom test.
For further comment contact:
National coordinator
Murray Hunter: murray@r2k.org.za or 072 672 5468
R2K Gauteng
Dale McKinley: drdalet@metroweb.co.za or 072 429 4086
R2K Western Cape
Nkwame Cedile: nkwame.cedile@gmail.com or 078 227 6008
R2K KZN
Desmond D’Sa: sdcea3@mail.ngo.za or 083 982 6939
R2K Eastern Cape
Ayanda Kota: ayandakota@webmail.co.za or 078 625 6468
www.r2k.org.za (Sign our statement)
www.facebook.com/Right2Know
Twitter: @r2kcampaign
Join the campaign - SMS 'TRUTH' and your name to 31332
