The Passing of the “Secrecy Bill”

By Sibulele Mabusela

The controversial Protection of Information Bill, (also known as the Secrecy Bill) has been passed this Tuesday by the National Assembly despite nationwide protests and opposition that claimed the bill was “unconstitutional”.

The National Assembly passed the Bill after the subject was put to a vote and adopted by the majority who won the ballot by 229 votes in favour of the Bill to 107 in opposition to it in the house of 400 seats.

According to News24, all opposition parties present voted against the Bill while the ANC used its majority to pass it.

While the Bill still needs to be permitted by the National Council of Provinces in 2012, opposition parties and media organisations vow to take the matter to the Constitutional Court to appeal the Bill being passed into law.

The Protection of Information Bill, was originally introduced in October 2008 and has been revised since then, it is a legislation that was presented to protect state secrets, as well as classified and/or sensitive information from loss or unlawful disclosure, and was proposed as a mean to stop “reckless journalists” from publishing state secrets, the Bill offers up to 25 years in jail for journalists who do not adhere to it.