Let’s face it, those who are pushing the Protection of Information Bill through Parliament are not being entirely candid about their motives.
Let’s face it, those who are pushing the Protection of Information Bill through Parliament are not being entirely candid about their motives.
It is improbable that they are really interested in passing this legislation because they are worried about state security.
Can anyone think of a case in the last 20 years where the security of this country has been compromised because we lacked such an Act?
The real driving force behind the Protection of Information Bill is the desperate need of certain elements in the ruling party to find a stick to beat anyone who attempts to uncover information about government improprieties.
There is a mindset within the highest echelons of the ANC that sees the media as the enemy. This is not speculation; it comes directly from the keyboard of ANC Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe, who wrote, “The strongest opposition to the ANC can safely be described as the media”.
In describing the opposition as such, Mantashe also owns up to the ANC’s position against the media. It is for this reason that Mantashe and other senior members of the ruling party continue to work for the setting up of a media tribunal another instrument to whip the media with.
Media organisations suffered rigorous censorship and other controls during apartheid. Yet newspapers fought against this repression, playing an important role in highlighting the injustices of apartheid.
As the changing of the guard became imminent, controls were gradually relaxed to the point where, through most of the 90s and the first decade of this century, South Africa has had a free press.
The ANC is now actively campaigning, under the guise of protecting sensitive information, to restrict media access to government sources and it is also seeking to punish less than compliant journalists through the establishment of a media tribunal.
It would appear that the years when transparency was a frequently used watchword in the ANC lexicon are steadily receding, and will one day be recalled by those who dare to speak out as the halcyon days of the interregnum.
It is evident that a party who supports the Protection of Information Bill and the media tribunal can only do so if it has a great deal to hide.
