South Africa
South Africa passes Secrecy Bill to jail journalistsPosted Sep 9 2011
South Africa’s Protection of State Information Bill (also known as the Secrecy Bill) was finalized last week. The bill aims to safeguard state secrets and prescribes fines or jail sentences for up to 25 years to anyone who accesses classified information, according to a Bloomberg.com article and a News24 article.
The majority African National Congress (ANC) proposed the bill, using its majority to overrule the three opposition parties who voted against the bill at a hearing on Monday in Cape Town. After the bill is voted on in Parliament, it will pass to President Jacob Zuma, who may sign it into law.
The Right2Know campaign opposes to bill on the grounds that it violates rights of free speech and inhibits the journalistic watchdog principle. Convener of the Right2Know campaign, Murray Hunter, said the bill was worrying for journalists in South Africa in a Bloomberg.com article.
“I don’t think one can expect any more radical changes to the bill during the parliamentary process,” Hunter said in the Bloomberg article. “It’s deeply problematic.”
In the latest press freedom index in 2010 by Reporters Without Borders, in a year, South Africa dropped five places from 33 to 38.