Editors Comments

Prime time for a worry fest

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:50

Yet again the South African government is trying to push through the scary Protection of State Information Bill (aka Secrecy Bill) without the much needed ‘in the public interest’ clause. Yet again the Right2Know Campaign is protesting it, hardly surprising considering that the public consultative process promised by the government never really happened. Yet again I have the horrid feeling that whatever the government wants, the government gets.

Yet again I think how we, as tax paying citizens, pay the salaries of those in government and wonder why they seem to want to entrench a complete control-freakdom over us by restricting our freedom of speech and our right to information. Yet again I think how accountability by state security agencies will disappear altogether when the Secrecy Bill becomes the Secrecy Law.

Yet again I think how wonderful a truly independent broadcasting and telecommunications regulator would be and am alarmed to see that the proposed amendments to the Electronic Communications Act want to put more power into the hands of the Minister, especially over the licensing of frequency spectrum.

Yet again the promised, much needed and desperately long awaited broadcasting policy review seems to be delayed in favour of the controversial Public Service Broadcasting Bill that was mooted by the former former Minister of Communications and then withdrawn by the latest former Minister and has now been whipped out again by the new Minister. Yet again I think how policy should always preceed the drafting and subsequent passing of a bill.

Yet again I feel worried and uneasy…

JOANNA STERKOWICZ

« go back