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Date
: 24/02/2004
Source: Ministry for Safety and Security
Title: C Nqakula: Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against
Terrorist and Related Activities Bill, NCOP
SPEECH BY CHARLES NQAKULA, MINISTER FOR SAFETY & SECURITY, ON
THE PROTECTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY AGAINST TERRORIST AND
RELATED ACTIVITIES BILL, 2003, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES, 24
February 2004
Chairperson and Honourable Members
This Bill has come a long way, from the South African Law Reform
Commission processes to 14 November 2002, when it was tabled in the
National Assembly. Part of its history includes the extensive
consultation process and public hearings that the Portfolio
Committee conducted, during which many people and organisations
made important submissions. The consideration of the Bill by the
Select Committee for Safety and Constitutional Affairs was further
consolidation of the desire to produce legislation that would
redound to the best practice of our constitutional democracy.
The Select Committee used as a guide in dealing with all expert
opinions on the basis of our constitution and from the perspective
of international humanitarian law.
The Committee also proposed the adoption of a number of amendments
which will bring about corrections and improvements in the text of
the Bill, and which are not of a policy nature.
Chairperson and Honourable Members, the processes I have referred
to are the bedrock of a working democracy and should be entrenched
in our legislative system. Piloting the Bill through this House at
the end of the long road behind us speaks to the methodology of law
making that we have developed, where people from different
backgrounds, politically, socially and economically, bring in
independent and different perspectives in the process of
legislation.
Chairperson, over a period of more than a year, Parliament has
adopted instruments to comply with our international obligations.
But, the Republic has not acceded to or ratified the Maritime
Navigation Convention, the Protection of Nuclear Material, and the
Convention relating to Fixed Platforms. The Bill under review today
paves the way to ratify the three conventions and will put in place
the final building block in the legislative framework of the
Republic to combat terrorism internationally as well as within our
borders.
The Bill refers also to all offences regarding international
terrorism in keeping with the relevant Conventions, as well as the
general offence of terrorism. It provides for criminal and civil
asset forfeiture, in respect of specified offences, the
extraterritorial jurisdiction required specifically by the
Terrorist Bombings Convention, the African Union Convention on the
Prevention and Combating of Terrorism, and the Terrorist Financing
Convention.
It also provides for offences relating to the financing of
terrorist activities, a wider provision allowing search and seizure
and cordoning off, to prevent and investigate terrorist activities.
The President is authorised to publish in the Gazette the names of
individuals and institutions connected to terrorist and related
activities, as identified by the United Nations Security Council,
and provides for Parliamentary oversight in this regard.
Investigative procedures similar to those prescribed in the
Prevention of Organised Crime Act, are provided for in the Bill in
order to investigate terrorist and related activities.
Chairperson and Honourable Members, it should be noted that the
Bill is omnibus in that it also effects amendments to legislation
such as the Financial Intelligence Centre Act which prescribes the
reporting of transactions relating to terrorist activities, the
Prevention of Organised Crime Act, which provides for civil
forfeiture in respect of property relating to terrorist activities,
the Extradition Act, which does away with the political exception
in respect of terrorist activities, the Nuclear Energy Act, which
creates the offence of the criminal use of nuclear materials, the
Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act, to provide
for an offence relating to weapons of mass destruction, the
Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1997, for prescribed sentences, and
the Interception Legislation to provide for interception of
communications relating to the most serious offences in the
Bill.
Furthermore the Bill criminalizes hoaxes and provides for an order
by the court for the payment of fruitless expenses for relevant
operational action.
Allow me to emphasise, Chairperson, that no prosecution may be
instituted in terms of the Bill without the written authorisation
of the National Director of Public Prosecutions. The Bill makes it
obligatory on the part of the Director of Public Prosecutions to
report to the United Nations and other international institutions
on prosecutions or refusal to prosecute civil aviation and maritime
navigation crimes. Provision is also made for adequate penalties to
suit the seriousness of the offences in question. The Bill also
provides for transitional measures to ensure the continuity of
existing terrorist trials.
Chairperson, I move that the Council adopts the report of the
Select Committee on the Protection of Constitutional Democracy
against Terrorist and Related Activities Bill, 2003.
Thank you.
Issued by: Ministry for Safety and Security
24 February 2004
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