In a highly charged press conference in parliament yesterday, ANC Chief Whip Mathole Motshekga said it was not true that last weekend's ANC national executive committee meeting had decided to delay the bill because many ANC NEC members and MPs opposed it.
He claimed yesterday's ANC parliamentary caucus had decided on its own - after a short 90-minute debate - not to vote on the bill today as scheduled, because the ANC wanted to take more submissions from organisations.
"The question of scrapping the bill does not arise because we are satisfied with the draft that has been produced," he said.
"All we are saying is that there are some people who want to give further input. As a democratic organisation we have agreed to allow that," Motshekga said.
He could not say who the organisations were. "We have just been advised that there are parties who have approached the office of the speaker."
It is also not clear where these organisations will be sending their submissions to, as the ANC says the ad-hoc committee discussing all the submissions, has ceased to exist.
Motshekga denied that he was in fact referring to internal pressure from ANC members who wanted a "public interest defence".
The "public interest defence" would have allowed people to reveal classified information if that was to expose corruption, a looming serious public safety or environmental risk or if the document had only been classified in the first place to save someone embarrassment.
When asked why the ANC would accept more submissions on the bill if it was not prepared to include a public interest defence, Motshekga said "listening to the people is not the same thing as accepting everything because this a technical matter we are talking about".
He conceded that the ANC had taken note of the several thousand people who marched on parliament over the weekend.
In a chilling sign that it might only be three more months before the bill is enacted in its current form, ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe told an earlier press briefing that the bill had been delayed, but not put on ice.
"It is not a media bill, it is a security bill. If journalists are peddling information, they have to live with the consequences," he said.
In reaction to the delay, IFP MP Mario Oriani-Ambrosini said he had tabled 123 amendments to the bill yesterday. His party would now argue that if the ANC didn't want a public interest defence, it should include a public domain defence - where the state official leaking the information should be prosecuted, not the person who published it.
DA MP David Maynier said it was a "significant window of opportunity" and that ANC alliance partner Cosatu would now use the time to put pressure on the ANC to include a public interest defence.
He said ANC MP Cecil Burgess's statement that there was no legal way to write this defence into the bill, was untrue.
"It is entirely possible to include a public interest defence in the bill."
ANC delays secrecy bill
In a highly charged press conference in parliament yesterday, ANC Chief Whip Mathole Motshekga said it was not true that last weekend's ANC national executive committee meeting had decided to delay the bill because many ANC NEC members and MPs opposed it.
He claimed yesterday's ANC parliamentary caucus had decided on its own - after a short 90-minute debate - not to vote on the bill today as scheduled, because the ANC wanted to take more submissions from organisations.
"The question of scrapping the bill does not arise because we are satisfied with the draft that has been produced," he said.
"All we are saying is that there are some people who want to give further input. As a democratic organisation we have agreed to allow that," Motshekga said.
He could not say who the organisations were. "We have just been advised that there are parties who have approached the office of the speaker."
It is also not clear where these organisations will be sending their submissions to, as the ANC says the ad-hoc committee discussing all the submissions, has ceased to exist.
Motshekga denied that he was in fact referring to internal pressure from ANC members who wanted a "public interest defence".
The "public interest defence" would have allowed people to reveal classified information if that was to expose corruption, a looming serious public safety or environmental risk or if the document had only been classified in the first place to save someone embarrassment.
When asked why the ANC would accept more submissions on the bill if it was not prepared to include a public interest defence, Motshekga said "listening to the people is not the same thing as accepting everything because this a technical matter we are talking about".
He conceded that the ANC had taken note of the several thousand people who marched on parliament over the weekend.
In a chilling sign that it might only be three more months before the bill is enacted in its current form, ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe told an earlier press briefing that the bill had been delayed, but not put on ice.
"It is not a media bill, it is a security bill. If journalists are peddling information, they have to live with the consequences," he said.
In reaction to the delay, IFP MP Mario Oriani-Ambrosini said he had tabled 123 amendments to the bill yesterday. His party would now argue that if the ANC didn't want a public interest defence, it should include a public domain defence - where the state official leaking the information should be prosecuted, not the person who published it.
DA MP David Maynier said it was a "significant window of opportunity" and that ANC alliance partner Cosatu would now use the time to put pressure on the ANC to include a public interest defence.
He said ANC MP Cecil Burgess's statement that there was no legal way to write this defence into the bill, was untrue.
"It is entirely possible to include a public interest defence in the bill."
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