Issued by Daniela Ellerbeck on behalf of the FW de Klerk Foundation on 07/05/2024

This morning Parliament’s legal services agreed that most of the President’s concerns about the unconstitutionality of the Protection of State Information Bill’s, infamously known as the Secrecy Bill, were valid. The President’s stated concerns include that the Bill unjustifiably and unreasonably infringes the rights to receive information and impart ideas and to access to information held by the state (sections 16(1)(b) and 32(1)(a) of the Constitution).

“The FW de Klerk Foundation shares the President’s concerns that the Secrecy Bill is unconstitutional. The Foundation will continue to closely monitor Parliament’s reconsideration of the Bill to ensure it fully addresses these concerns. Of paramount importance is that the Bill must not unjustifiably and unreasonably infringe on fundamental rights or South Africa’s founding values of a responsive, accountable and open government,” states Daniela Ellerbeck, an attorney and the FW de Klerk Foundation’s Constitutional Rights Programme Manager.

Parliament’s Justice Portfolio Committee is set to meet once more on the Bill to decide if it should start the Bill afresh or simply recommend to the National Assembly that it be rescinded as it is incurable. The Committee expects the Justice Department, the President’s legal team and the State Security Agency to be present at this meeting. President Cyril Ramaphosa sent the Bill back to Parliament for reconsideration after it had been passed by both Parliament’s houses and sent to him to be signed into law. The new Parliament revived the Bill, which has been the subject of extensive debate and scrutiny, due to its overbroad definitions, draconian criminalisation of receiving information, the absence of a public interest defence and its application to all organs of state.