Of national interest

THERE will be no tears from those who prize a free society at the announced scrapping of the intimidatory National Key Points Act of 1980. The government of PW Botha used it for years for its own repressive aims, warning potential transgressors, including newspaper editors, of prison if they broke the law.“Give us a list, so that we can be forewarned of a building we should not photograph,” editors repeatedly urged. “No,” said the government, “revealing a security point will defeat the purpose of shielding it.”

So it went round and round in an awkward, catch-22 engagement, with ministers effectively determining at will that photographing or describing a place was a jailable offence. The absence of a tangible list made it farcical, but there was cold purpose and menace behind this.

The act was kept and used by successive democratic governments, until court action by the SA History Archive and the Right2Know campaign finally drew a list of 204 places officially designated as key points.

A fortnight before the cabinet decided last week to end the act, police at John Dube (King’s) House warned a Daily News photographer who was taking pictures of the storm damage at the presidential residence – presumably in terms of that law.

GOVERNMENT ministers also hauled it out to warn against photographs of the president’s homestead at Nkandla – which drew strong reaction and more published photographs. Confrontation brewed, then came a step-down from the government, saying pictures were permissible if they did not focus on security features.

What replaces the act will be crucial. Will the Critical Infrastructure Protection Bill of 2016, still to be unveiled in the Government Gazette, be more of the same? We sincerely hope not. It should not be a political tool. It should balance security concerns with common sense and the overriding imperative of transparency.