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The Right2Know campaign welcomes the NCOP’s move to host provincial public hearings on the Protection of State Information Bill (the Secrecy Bill). It is an encouraging sign that MPs may be ready to hear the voices of ordinary people on this contentious Bill.

However, we are concerned at the rushed schedule proposed by the NCOP ad hoc committee. Firstly, there is no provision in the draft schedule for adequately informing and mobilising members of the public of upcoming hearings before they are scheduled to take place. Secondly, while several meetings will be held in each province between January and March, the committee has proposed to takeonly one day to consider all amendments at the end of this process. Any serious consideration of the problematic contents of the Bill and the substance of public submissions would require many more meetings than provided for in the current schedule.

Nonetheless, the move to host provincial hearings outside of the urban centres is a welcome change to a process where all doors to engagement appeared to have shut. A recent survey released by ikapadata shows that 60% of township residents polled know about the Secrecy Bill – surely one of the highest levels of awareness of any draft law in recent years. It is also encouraging that the majority of those with knowledge of the Bill do not support it in its current form. However, the fact that 40% of those polled were not aware of the Bill is a sign of the continuing chasm between South Africa’s formal democratic institutions and the lives of many ordinary people.

We therefore call on the NCOP to host more meetings, over a longer period of time, to ensure that there is an environment for meaningful and thorough public participation – something sorely lacking from the process in past months.

The Right2Know campaign, with very limited resources, will continue to work to inform South Africans about the Secrecy Bill and mobilise against its draconian clauses. While the Bill’s defenders have often tried to dismiss voices of protest against the Bill, the campaign will engage with all provincial hearings conducted by Parliament to ensure that the R2K’s constituent organisations and social movements, as well as concerned members of the public, have the opportunity to table their concerns.