On 19 September the Parliamentary Caucus of the ANC announced that it was withdrawing the Protection of State Information Bill from the Parliamentary programme. This announcement came as a surprise because the bill was scheduled to be debated in the National Assembly on the 20th of September.

According to ANC Chief Whip Mathole Motshekga the reason for the withdrawal is to allow further consultations with civil society and other parties who have recently made submissions on the bill. He said the ANC caucus will engage in further discussion internally, with other political parties and with civil society. It is unclear what form these consultations will take as the mandate of the ad hoc committee that was dealing with the bill has expired.

The decision to suspend the bill is a victory for the Right2Know campaign and others in civil society who have been vocal in their opposition. It shows that our concerns are being heard and that the politicians are feeling the pressure. Dr Motshekga frequently referred to the march to Parliament held by the R2K on the 17th of September, indicating that the campaign’s efforts have been noticed.

However the decision is also evidently a result of contestation within the ruling party. An optimistic reading is that the democrats/progressives within the party are taking a stand and have refused to pass a flawed bill. Perhaps the more likely scenario is that the securocrats are buying time to exert pressure on dissenters (in the ANC and the Tripartite Alliance) to get them to support the bill. Some media have reported that the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) made the decision because its members did not feel they had been sufficiently consulted on the final version of the bill.

Another likely reason for the suspension was to avoid embarrassment to South Africa at the launch of the Open Government Partnership which was launched on the 20th of September, the same day on which the Secrecy Bill was to be passed. Countries participating in the OGP have made pledged to promote transparency, fight corruption and empower citizens. The passing of the bill would have gone against these commitments and likely caused public embarrassment for President Jacob Zuma at the launch.

Regardless of the political machinations going on behind the scenes, this delay presents an opportunity for civil society to continue raising public awareness and acting against the bill. For as long as the bill threatens to imprison whistleblowers, journalists or ordinary citizens who find themselves with the wrong information at the wrong time, it should be resisted.

R2K launched a branch in the Eastern Cape on the 20th of September further extending its presence in the country. The campaign mandate is also expanding into broader issues of media freedom and diversity. Members of the campaign participated in the parliamentary hearings on media diversity which took place on the 22nd and 23rd of September.

Report by Sithembile Mbete, Political Researcher within Idasa's Political Information and Monitoring Service (PIMS)