Cwele told to back off in ‘secrecy bill’ uproar

Committee scraps meetings amid signs of deep divisions in ANC

WYNDHAM HARTLEY CAPE TOWN — State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele and his department have been accused of undermining the legislative authority of Parliament, as deep divisions in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) emerge on the “secrecy bill”.

All further meetings of the National Council of Provinces ad hoc committee redrafting the Protection of State Information Bill have been cancelled, after the Department of State Security and the committee reached a deadlock over proposed changes.

Ironically, many of the suggested amendments to the bill — which go some way towards addressing criticisms raised by public interest groups and stave off threats to take the bill on constitutional review — were proposed by ANC representatives on the committee.

On Tuesday the department rejected proposals by the ruling party to give greater protection to whistle-blowers, to remove all minimum prison sentences from the bill and to narrow the definition of national security.

Acting director-general of state security Dennis Dlomo told the committee national security had to be broadly defined to allow the state to use the legislation to respond to emerging threats.

A parliamentary official confirmed yesterday that the committee’s meetings scheduled for the next week had been scrapped to give political parties time to deliberate on the way forward.

The committee’s chairman, Raseriti Tau, will now seek an extension of the June 22 deadline to report back to the National Council of Provinces on the bill.

Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Alf Lees said yesterday: “The Department of State Security continues to seriously undermine the legislative authority of the National Council of Provinces by shooting down amendments to the secrecy bill proposed by the ANC and by stonewalling attempts by the DA to bring the bill into line with the constitution and the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

“The DA will be writing to the leader of government business in Parliament, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, requesting urgent intervention in the continuing battle between the Department of State Security and Parliament on the secrecy bill.”

Mr Tau reacted angrily to Mr Lees’s comments, which he said were malicious, cheap politicking and a misrepresentation of the atmosphere in the committee.

He said it was not true that the committee’s proposals were shot down. “The proposals were made, the department responds and then we engage on the issues. Nothing stops the department from stating its case and selling its ideas to the committee.”

But Mr Lees said that the government needed to understand that “once legislation is in Parliament, it needs to be dealt with in Parliament”.

He said the attempts by the Department of State Security to alter the work of the committee undermined the constitutional separation of powers between the executive and the legislature.

“Mr Motlanthe must tell the Department of State Security to back off and leave the legislating to Parliament,” Mr Lees said. “This is not the first instance in which the department and Mr Cwele showed a complete disregard for the separation of powers.

“Earlier this year the department launched an unprecedented R3m advertising campaign in an attempt to sell the secrecy bill to South Africans despite widespread rejection.

“The minister and his department also pre-empted the legislative process by selling the bill as if it was a done deal.” With Sapa