ANC's fast and furious parliamentary deliberation over the Info Bill, going through the motions

In the face of sustained opposition to the Protection of Information Bill (better known as the "protection of information from investigative journalism bill"), the ANC is pushing the speedometer needle well into the danger zone as it chases deadlines at breakneck speed. But the question remains: Will it swap its Ferrari for its trusted bulldozer in the end anyway?

By TO Molefe

25 May 2011

Operating under obvious pressure from above, ANC MPs grew increasingly agitated during Tuesday's meeting of the ad hoc committee on the Protection of Information Bill. The source of their annoyance was the slow progress on deliberating clauses in the bill, and accused DA and ACDP MPs of intentionally delaying progress.

During the morning session, the committee's chairman Cecil Burgess said if consensus could not be reached, clauses of the bill would be put to the vote to speed progress. But by late afternoon, having only worked through three of the bill's 52 sections, the ANC MPs' annoyance came to a head when the DA's Dene Smuts said she did not understand an ANC-proposed change to one of the clauses.

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About the author

TO Molefe is a Cape Town-based freelance writer. Follow him on Twitter at [[@TOMolefe]].