The Centre for Constitutional Rights (CFCR) welcomes President Zuma’s decision to refer the contentiousProtection of State Information Bill (the Bill) back to Parliament for reconsideration.

The Bill, which in general seeks to regulate the manner in which state information may be protected, was passed by Parliament earlier this year and was subsequently referred to the President to be signed into law in terms of section 79(1) of the Constitution. However, in a surprising yet much welcomed announcement, the President stated that, after considering the Bill in its entirety, he was of the opinion that the Bill “as it stands does not pass constitutional muster”. According to the President, sections of the Bill (in particular section 42 dealing with failure to report possession of classified information and section 45 legislating improper classification of information), “[lacked] meaning and coherence” and were therefore, in his opinion, “irrational and accordingly…unconstitutional”.