South Africa’s contentious Protection of Information Bill (dubbed the Secrecy Bill) hit the headlines again on 15 February as opposition parties maintained that the committee drafting the bill was no longer valid.
Mail & Guardian reports that the Democratic Alliance (DA), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African Christian Democratic Party parties walked out of a government presentation in Cape Town on the basis that the lifespan of the committee had been unlawfully extended.
The ANC held that the committee had been extended to 31 March and that the opposition parties’ objection was insignificant.
