Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has described the proposed Protection of Information Bill as a “mockery’.
As Business Day points out, this is the first time a leader of the ruling party ANC-led tripartite alliance has criticised the bill.
Vavi’s comments were part of his Ruth First memorial lecture presented on 17 August at Wits University in Johannesburg. (The late Ruth First was a journalist and anti-apartheid activist.) Vavi told journalists that the bill would never be passed and that Cosatu was lobbying MPs.
The bill has caused an uproar as it is regarded as a government tool to stop the media from exposing corruption within the state.
