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The National Council of Provinces’ Ad Hoc Committee dealing with the Protection of State Information Bill (B6B – 2010) is pleased with today’s attendance and attitude of the members of the public in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality.

“The major highlight of today’s meeting was the lively participation of both the youth and the senior citizens of the community,” said Mr Raseriti Tau, Chairperson of the Ad Hoc Committee.

The Committee noted all concerns raised by the community and will place special emphasis on several issues that came up strongly from the public such as:

• The role of the Classification Review Panel and its accessibility
• The prosecution of local journalists if found to have reported on classified information as opposed to their international counterparts who would escape prosecution.

As the Committee would be moving from province to province, it would like to urge citizens to familiarise themselves with what is contained in the Bill. This will assist the Committee in obtaining an accurate view of what the South African citizens want out of this piece of legislation.

The Committee would also like to see provincial stakeholders playing a prominent role in assisting Parliament to educate broader South African citizens about the Protection of State Information Bill.