[governance] Black Tuesday - No leaking Wikis or Whistleblowing for South Africans!

[Fouad Bajwa]

Black Tuesday: Secrecy Bill passed in Parliament
source: http://mg.co.za/article/2011-11-22-black-tuesday-secrecy-bill-passed-by-parliament/

Main features of the news piece:

* The hotly contested Bill was first introduced in 2008 by
then-intelligence minster Ronnie Kasrils.

* When the Bill reappeared, its provisions were even more draconian
than before. The new draft sought to create a law that would allow any
organ of state, from the largest government department down to the
smallest municipality, to classify any document as secret and set out
harsh penalties of up to 25 years in jail for whistleblowers.

* It came under heavy fire from all quarters of civil society, who
said it would obstruct the free flow of information, usher in a new
era of secrecy and pose a threat to democracy.

* Media and civil organisations insist that the Bill should include a
public interest defence, as enshrined in state secrecy legislation in
Canada. Such a defence would enable journalists and others who
published classified information under pain of prison to argue in
mitigation that they had done so in the public interest.

* Shortly before his death earlier this year, struggle stalwart Kader
Asmal urged Parliament to take the Bill "back to the drawing board"
and urged South Africans to join him in rejecting the legislation.

* Sources within Parliament say that, despite protest from media and
civil groups from around the country, the passing of the Bill is a
foregone conclusion and that it may become law before the end of the
year.

* The Bill will now go to National Council of Provinces and then back
to the National Assembly before the president signs it and it gets
gazetted.



-- 
Regards.
--------------------------
Fouad
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