The fight to stop the Protection of State Information Bill from being signed into law continues after the bill was pushed through parliament yesterday despite country-wide “Black Tuesday’ protests. The bill is seen to represent a substantial threat to freedom of speech in South Africa.
According to the Mail & Guardian, activists and journalists have promised that the controversial bill, dubbed the “secrecy bill’, will be challenged in the Constitutional Court if the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and President Jacob Zuma fail to add a public interest defence clause before it is signed into law.
Business Day reports that there is a parliamentary rule which would allow a bill to be referred directly to the Constitutional Court if one third of the assembly supports such an action. If all opposition parties in parliament unite in support, they would represent 35% of assembly members and could get the bill referred to the court even before it is signed by the President.
