The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has criticized the controversial Protection of Information Bill, warning that it could steer the country back to the apartheid days of media and information control. So says FXI director Ayesha Kajee, one of the many voices within civil society, fiercely objecting to the bill, currently under the spotlight. The amended law changes the manner in which state information is classified and protected. The media watchdog and a number of other organisations made their submissions before an ad hoc parliamentary committee on the Bill last week.
Speaking to VOC, Kajee said a new bill is needed to replace the existing one passed in the apartheid era in 1982, which allowed the now-defunct National Party government to "get away with murder." However, she said this bill is no different, and was yet another attempt by the state to entrench its powers and to suppress the free flow of information. Kajee said she was deeply disappointed that the Ministry of Intelligence is attempting to have a Bill, which is "fundamentally flawed", passed by Parliament.
"We definitely need a bill to replace this archaic piece of legislation which gave very sweeping powers to the former government. But this particular bill, which after much outcry from civil society over its first draft, has been amended to give this government the same power. The public has to be concerned over the level of abuse of power this bill would make us open to," she said.
The bill has been criticised for its unclear linguistic interpretation and various inconsistencies. The "most shocking" aspect, said Kajee, was the broad definition of the term "national interest" and "national security", and the lack of any attempt to balance this against "public interest." The bill rehashes the same provisions stipulated in the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2000 (Act 2 of 2000), which allows the public the right to access information which the state has classified. Contrarily, this bill allows government to classify any information it deems is not in the public interest.
"The fact that the Ministry has chosen not to include a public interest provision in this bill, which would protect journalists, investigators etc, if they are in possession of classified information for the purposes of their investigation, shows that we are heading down a frightening slope. There are absolutely no checks and balances..." she said.
Kajee pointed out to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and how it has been "manipulated and subverted" to the will of the executive of Zimbabwe. IEEPA is a United State Federal law allowing US presidents to identify any unusual extraordinary threat that originates outside the United States and to confiscate property and prohibit transactions in response. There have been similar cases in other countries, which Kajee cautioned against.
"We are not sure what's going to happen...it seems as if certain members of government are determined to push this piece of legislation through. Parliamentarians, no matter what their political party affiliation, are meant to be representatives of citizens. They have been put there by the public therefore they should play a serious oversight role when implementing legislation. They need to ensure the law does not act against the public interest...and this legislation surely does," Kajee stressed. VOC (Tasneem Mohamed)
Subverted
Archaic |
