Opponents of the controversial Protection of State Information Bill are protesting outside parliament in Cape Town, ANC headquarters Luthuli House in Johannesburg and several other locations across the country today in what the National Press Club has dubbed “Black Tuesday’.
The ANC is expected to use its majority in parliament to push through the legislation today, but the move has been met with condemnation by the media, civil society, trade unions, opposition political parties and prominent struggle veterans including Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
According to TimesLive the National Press Club campaign calling on South Africans to wear black in protest at the bill had gone viral on social networks. The SA National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) also sent a letter to members of parliament urging them to vote against the legislation, noting that there were still “serious flaws’ in it, including the lack of a public interest defence. The picket outside parliament is organised by the Right 2 Know Campaign.
