The Senate of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) wishes to add its voice among many others in civil society, urging the national legislature not to adopt the Protection of Information Bill.
While we recognise that the legislature has redrafted clauses in the Bill, we do not believe that they collectively go far enough to address the concerns raised by civil society and citizens. The Bill in its present form will not only enable the cover up of corruption and incompetence, but it will also compromise the research of many academics and the work of many journalists which is essential for ensuring the public scrutiny of decisions made in government and in state institutions. Even more importantly the present Bill proposes limits to freedom and will ultimately diminish the democratic character of our society.
The UJ Senate therefore calls on the legislature and the ANC to return the Bill to the drafting committee and ask it to seriously engage civil society institutions, including universities, and other stakeholders with a view to re-drafting the Bill so that it is compatible and in tune with our hard fought for constitutional democracy.
