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The Democratic Alliance (DA) believes that Minister of State Security Siyabonga Cwele's decision to refuse a promotion of access to information (PIA) request for a document on "information peddling", which he presented at an open meeting in Parliament with the media present, is bizarre.

This refusal to hand over the information peddling document reflects a "new paranoia" which is spreading like an oil slick in government under President Jacob Zuma.

Earlier this year the Minister, together with a senior member of the State Security Agency, briefed members of the Ad hoc Committee on the Protection of Information Bill on the impact of "information peddling", using a power-point presentation, as part of his briefing on the new Protection of Information Bill. The meeting was an open meeting and members of the media were present during the Minister's presentation.

However, after the meeting the Minister surprisingly refused to make hard copies of the power-point presentation available to committee members because the document was "classified". Ironically, the contents of the information peddling briefing were reported in the media and a detailed minute of the meeting was published on the Parliamentary Monitoring Group's website.

To refuse access to the power-point presentation on "information peddling", which was presented at an open parliamentary committee meeting, at which the media were present, is bizarre. For that reason, I submitted a request for the information peddling document under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (No. 2 of 2002).

However, last week the Minister refused access to the document on the grounds that:

• "disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause prejudice to the defence and the security of the republic"; and
• "disclosure would reveal information supplied in confidence by or on behalf of another state or international organization".

The DA will therefore appeal the decision in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (No. 2 of 2002).

That public representatives must apply for access to documents that have been presented in open parliamentary committee meetings at which the media were present, represents a new low for constitutional democracy in South Africa.