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South Africa Passes Secrecy Bill, Makes Whistleblowing a Dangerous Act

Posted by timothy on from the let-it-not-be-said-that dept.

New submitter Hermanas writes with the story that South Africa's parliament has passed a Protection of Information Bill which could land whistle blowers and journalists who print classified information in jail for up to 25 years. From the Telegraph: "On the morning of the vote, a joint editorial in the country's largest newspapers heralded [a South African] 'day of reckoning for democracy.' 'The spreading culture of self-enrichment, either corrupt, or merely inappropriate, makes scrutiny fuelled by whistle blowers who have the public interest at heart more essential than ever since 1994,' the front page editorial said. As MPs voted on the bill in Cape Town's parliament, protesters dressed all in black gathered at the gates of the historic building where they were addressed by editors and freedom of information activists."

37 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Wow... by AngryDeuce · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would have expected this here in the U.S. or China, not South Africa. We're having a bad influence on the rest of the world, I think...

    1. Re:Wow... by EvilBudMan · · Score: 2

      Look for it soon in your country too.

    2. Re:Wow... by mr1911 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Expect an even worse version to be submitted in the US in the near future. It will almost certainly be presented as a way to 1) save the children, or 2) protect us from terrorists.

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    3. Re:Wow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The 1% are in power and want to stay that way. The truth is not their friend.

    4. Re:Wow... by Aryden · · Score: 4, Informative

      In reality, this already exists in the US. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13526 mandates that information cannot be classified merely for the sake stopping embarrassment. Also provides provisions for declassification of information and that publishing leaked information does not declassify it and is therefor punishable by law.

    5. Re:Wow... by chicago_scott · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You didn't expect something like this in a country that had apartheid until 1990 and imprisoned people who spoke out in favor or equal rights? Really?

    6. Re:Wow... by Tharsman · · Score: 4, Funny

      3) Save us from cyber-terroist children!

    7. Re:Wow... by gstoddart · · Score: 2

      Expect an even worse version to be submitted in the US in the near future. It will almost certainly be presented as a way to 1) save the children, or 2) protect us from terrorists.

      And, if the way they do the copyright stuff is any indication ... they'll say it's to bring America in line with what the rest of the world is doing.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    8. Re:Wow... by what2123 · · Score: 2

      4. Kill Pedo-bear.

    9. Re:Wow... by pixelpusher220 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Expect an even worse version to be submitted in the US in the near future.

      You sir are a pessimist.

      This is *America*. We can do censorship BETTER than anyone else...and we will!

      --
      People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people :-D
    10. Re:Wow... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The naive-optimist theory of human nature is that a good, hard, dose of oppression and brutality makes people see the evil of it.

      In a few, noble, cases(e.g. Mr. Mandela), it does. In less uplifting characters(e.g. his former wife, it renders them brutal: see "necklacing; support of"). In the case of cynical opportunists(like much of the present ANC leadership) it merely awakens them to an understanding of how terribly convenient power can be...

      (While the almost complete failure of this naive-optimist theory has applied time and again to post-colonial African governance, it is by no means exclusive to the continent. My very own New England was founded by religious refugees from Old England who sought a new land where, safe from their persecutors, they could safely persecute the shit out of people they didn't like... It is very lucky indeed that the foundation of the present day US occurred well after the initial round of assholes had died down a touch.)

    11. Re:Wow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      uhm the regime changed, the irony is the ones backing the bill are those who are still flying the ANC flag and have their whole identity invested in the so called "struggle". Hopefully 50 years from now young black "revolutionaries" will not still be blaming everything on apartheid. It's been over 25 years, surely all the shortcomings of the last 10 years at least can no longer be attributed to the previous regime? we have come a long way, but as long as the government squanders billions on corrupt deals and we have millions of uneducated, ignorant, disgruntled young men being drummed up by hate mongering "revolutionaries"(who live lavish lives of excess), history is going to repeat itself.

    12. Re:Wow... by Tailhook · · Score: 3, Informative

      I would have expected ... I think...

      Here is a whistleblower story you won't find on Slashdot because it isn't compatible with your preferred narrative. If you continue to discover large differences between reality and your training as a malcontent you should reconsider the propaganda you indulge.

      --
      Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
    13. Re:Wow... by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I would have expected this here in the U.S. or China, not South Africa.

      Why would you not expect this in South Africa? Are black-majority governments inherently more honest than those dominated by other races?

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    14. Re:Wow... by timeOday · · Score: 2

      I think it is incorrect to say publishing leaked information is punished in the US. For example, nobody is prosecuting NY Times for reprinting excerpts of wikileaks. Whether this is due to a law or a judicial precedent, I don't know.

    15. Re:Wow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you look at his past in today's context, he would be labeled a terrorist, and rightly so.

      He was labelled a terrorist back then. In fact, up until 2008, Mandela needed special waivers to travel to the US from the Secretary of State as a result of it.

      That said, for his part, he always did try to prevent people from getting hurt. He was going after buildings symbolic to the Apartheid government. The rest of his group didn't always adhere to that, and they got pretty violent, but it's hard to control people who have been oppressed for so long.

      People say that it's difficult to differentiate a terrorist from a freedom fighter. Here's my attempt: if you actually lay down arms and move towards reconciliation once you've ended the oppression, instead of trying to become the oppressor, then you're a freedom fighter. That's what Mandela did, and I have to call that noble, from the start. Because fighting for your freedom is a noble thing to do.

    16. Re:Wow... by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 4, Informative

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times_Co._v._United_States

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    17. Re:Wow... by pixelpusher220 · · Score: 2

      Sadly, who enforces that if its unjustly classified? The judges that were appointed by the branch of government who made it classified?

      One would hope there would be truly independent judges who would fly in the face of such activity, but I'm quite sure in 25 years we'll find out that LOTS of information was classified as 'national security' because if it got out it would make Bush, and now Obama, simply look bad and that would hurt our prestige in the world. Hence that's a security threat. And the judges signed off on it.

      Hell we have literal 'secret laws' now where they won't even say what they 'think it means' citing national security concerns.

      Or take the Islamic group that was accidentally mailed a copy of the case against them using the Patriot Act (I think), that the gov't argued was classified so they couldn't use as evidence. It was known data because it had been seen outside of classified circles, yet they couldn't use it to challenge the very law they were using to investigate them.

      We're on the road to hell...just a question of whether we can find the stones to turn ourselves around.

      --
      People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people :-D
    18. Re:Wow... by BitZtream · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The NYT didn't leak the stories, Bradley Manning did. Hence, Bradley Manning is in jail and not the NYT.

      This isn't difficult to understand.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    19. Re:Wow... by Rhodri+Mawr · · Score: 2

      5... Profit!

    20. Re:Wow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You obviously don't have a clue what's happening in South Africa.

      Over 3,000 white farmers (mostly elderly men and women) brutally murdered by blacks - normally tortured to death in the most horrific ways imaginable.

      A black majority government, which is, of course, totally corrupt.

      And all because of people like you, who can't be bothered to investigate things for yourself, and instead choose to believe whatever the media tells you.

    21. Re:Wow... by gmhowell · · Score: 2

      You're fooling yourself. There are plenty of blacks who blame their current plight in the US on slavery that ended 150 years ago.

      --
      Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
  2. Nukes by benjfowler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now I understand COMPLETELY, the decision by the then-white-minority government in South Africa, to relinquish their nuclear weapons and put their nuclear programme under international safeguards.

    And this does not make Jacob ('Bring Me My Machine Gun') Zuma and his cronies look too good.

    1. Re:Nukes by sl4shd0rk · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > And this does not make Jacob ('Bring Me My Machine Gun') Zuma and his cronies look too good.

      True, but when you have the machine gun (or/and all the money) you don't care what anyone thinks of you.

      --
      Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
    2. Re:Nukes by beuges · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Zuma was already not looking good a week ago, when his official spokesman, Mac Maharaj, laid charges against the Mail & Guardian, compelling them to redact about 70% of an article they were going to publish outlining how Maharaj lied during an in-camera hearing into corruption surrounding the infamous arms deal. Rather than defend himself, Maharaj's viewpoint is simply that the publication of in-camera evidence is against the law, so the M&G is breaking the law. Hasn't provided any sort of defence against the allegations of corruption against him.

      And this is exactly what the protesting against the POIB is about. The ANC has viciously resisted even the thought of adding a 'public interest' clause to the bill, meaning that evidence of corruption and lies, like in Zuma's spokesman's case, can be classified, and then rather than the corrupt person being held accountable, the journalists go to jail, for exposing corruption that the government is helping to hide.

      Zuma and his cronies haven't looked good for a while. If they were serious about their claims to want to fight corruption, they wouldn't be so hell-bent on passing a law that hides the evidence of that corruption. The minister of Intelligence was implicated in fraud involving travel allowances a few years back. None of the ANC MP's have been charged or even fined. He's the one that drafted the initial bill.

      My personal opinion, as a non-white who grew up in the last two decades of apartheid, is that the ANC government is worse for the people of this country than the apartheid one. At least with the Nats, you knew that if you were black, you were gonna be held back - it was government policy and they were open about it. With the ANC, they're keeping their own people back for their own selfish gains, blaming the 'legacy of apartheid' for their peoples misfortunes, when their people remain poor and uneducated purely due to the corrupt, selfish ANC government in power.

      It's a tragedy.

    3. Re:Nukes by Raenex · · Score: 2

      Remarkable.

    4. Re:Nukes by beuges · · Score: 2

      I'm not black, so I can't speak from personal experience there. I don't believe that the average black person today is financially worse-off than he was under apartheid. But as for quality of life, I do think he's not really any better off than he was overall. There are obviously a whole lot of factors at play. Since the 90's, a lot more blacks have been able to work at jobs they wouldn't have been able to in the past, so financially, there is a growing number of blacks who are benefitting. The 'reverse-apartheid' policy of affirmative action, which forces companies over a certain size to follow racial quotas when filling positions, has helped a lot of blacks get employed from the informal sector to the formal sector. However, lots of these guys never had the education or training for these positions, and generally either get stuck at the lower levels due to their qualification levels, or get unfairly promoted purely to raise the company's quota of black management. I've worked with clients who've had black guys promoted to senior management just for the sake of quotas, and their lack of overall understanding of the systems and departments they're managing is quite apparent.

      At the same time, the quality of education has been steadily dropping from the 90s, and it's really quite terrible now. The ANC government has tried a number of things with the education system, and one has to wonder if the result is just due to their complete lack of competence, or if it's done on purpose to ensure that the masses of the country remain uneducated. We had a very decent schooling system for quite a while. Once apartheid fell, and public schooling was equal for everyone, people began realising that a lot of the black kids moving into schools that they previously weren't allowed to were failing miserably, mainly due to the lower standard of education they had received until then. So government lowers the standard of education across the board. Rather than maintaining the standards already set for maths, sciences, etc, the entire schooling system was shifted to a policy of 'outcomes based education', where more 'practical' skills were focused on. If the majority of the population isn't ever going to use trignometry in their lives, why teach that to them at a high school level, when you could rather be teaching them how to count change from a till instead? If the majority isn't going to be creating technical drawing designs, why show them how to use a T-square when they can focus on how to manually weld metal instead? A lot of people, myself included, believe that the reduction in the standards of education has happened on purpose, so that the large numbers of poor, uneducated people (who are pretty much all ANC supporters because they still associate the ANC with Mandela and liberation) will remain poor and uneducated, and continue believing that the ANC is their liberator and saviour.

      Every ANC government, both provincial and national, as well as most municipalities, have been plagued with lazy, greedy, corrupt people. The politically connected get awarded over-inflated tenders, and get richer. The officials who grant the tenders get kickbacks, and get richer. The poor, who are supposed to benefit from these projects, end up with half-complete, poorly designed, badly implemented projects. The ANC government blames the legacy of apartheid for the poor delivery, and covers up for their ineptitude, and this is why they are pushing so hard for this secrecy bill to be passed.

      I don't know of anywhere else in the world where a government official can be caught red-handed with corruption, and the majority party says 'we will deal with this internally as a party matter', instead of having that corrupt official go through the actual legal system. The ANC goes to great lengths to protect its members. A shockingly large percentage of politicians have criminal records, and not for apartheid-related activity either. Zuma's personal financial advisor was in jail for fraud, corruption and soliciting bribes. Zuma was implicated at

  3. Now South Africa needs Wikileaks and Anonymous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So please, hackers of the world, we need you to bust Zuma and the security apparatus in South Africa wide open, and publish on behalf of the people of this country, who have had their hopes dashed by a hopelessly corrupt government. Let the secrets which gave rise to this bill come to light!

  4. Same Shit, different day.... by bleh-of-the-huns · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There is nothing to see here, move along..

    Welcome back to apartheid, only under black rule instead of white rule..

    This country (I am an expat) is intent on destroying itself. They have been trying to change history by renaming, or removing all monuments, good or bad, to historical figures and events.

    I'm glad I left.. as have most of my friends. SA while a beautiful country from a landscape aspect, is an absolute shithole from a people aspect, black, white, indian, makes not difference, the few good ones left should get the fuck out while the getting is good.

    --
    I came, I conquered, I coredumped
    1. Re:Same Shit, different day.... by c0d3g33k · · Score: 2

      Or a realist. What vested interest of yours is threatened by failing to implement this new bill?

    2. Re:Same Shit, different day.... by scamper_22 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Another expat... absolutely agree.

      For the record.. I am of Indian descent, and while never had it as bad as the blacks, we certainly detested apartheid.

      SA is basically a country run by ideological corruption right now. While blacks make up 80% of the population and almost everyone agrees a certain amount of transition in terms of 'affirmative' action is a good thing given history it is being done in such an impractical way.

      People are literally being handed positions of power with absolutely no qualifications. And of course this is coming down to massive corruption. It rarely goes to help the poor needy black family. The benefits tend to go to well connected black families who don't really need the help.

      Then you have the massive entitlement mentality. The biggest problem here is that 80% of the population is black. And unfortunately, a large percentage expect all the services for free. A simple example is electricity. They don't want to pay for electricity. They expect it to be subsidized by the other 20% of society. You can't run an electrical system that way. It's not like all the Indians or whites are rolling in money to subsidize it that way.

      So it's no surprise the government tries to crack down on whistle blowing. The whole country and government is based on corruption.

      It's a country doomed to run into the ground left to its own merits. There is hope though. China is heavily involved and at least keeps goods flowing... and they're relatively untainted by a colonial past in Africa.

    3. Re:Same Shit, different day.... by scamper_22 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I personally don't think it will get as bad as Zimbabwe. But I'm always open to surprises :P

      One thing about Africa is your perception can change in a minute. I recall a few of the riots, where people I'd talk to everyday, suddenly turned on their neighbor and burned homes down... so take the following with a grain of salt.

      I think the problem in South Africa is less about 'hate' for white people, and more about general corruption and poverty. This is what I think saves South Africa from Zimbabwe. There is even a small effort to help the poor whites... and there are a lot of them. Despite the flight, there is still a fair number of institutional builders. The old European style institutions are still there. China is heavily involved.

      If anything, I think South Africa will just descend into crime, poverty, corruption... not unlike many of the Latin American countries have done in the past. I don't see a Zimbabwe style melt down.

  5. Re:Coming soon to the US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    It is not just the Republicans you moron, both parties are in the bag with big business.

    Look at your Democrat Hero, Obama has his head so far up G.E. arse that he made their CEO Jeff Imelt a top advisor in his administration.

    How many taxes did GE pay? Practically nothing.

    Both parties cannot be trusted anymore.

  6. it will just drive the leaking of that info by FudRucker · · Score: 2

    underground, there will be more anonymous leaks to places like LiveLeak or Youtube from internet cafes or any unsecured wifi hotspot, information wants to be free and it will find a way despite what governments try to do to prevent it.

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
    1. Re:it will just drive the leaking of that info by Rangido · · Score: 2

      Problem with that - electricity, never mind internet access, is nowhere near ubiquitous in South Africa. Basic cellphones, maybe, but not real web browsing.

  7. I guess the blame game is universal by Quila · · Score: 3, Informative

    Over here Obama is still blaming the disastrous results of his administration on Bush.

  8. I'm a South African... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    and over the years I've seen a new apartheid being slowly, but meticulously built. The propaganda is rife everyday...

    Our country has mass unemployment, and those masses are uneducated. The government of this-not-so-young democracy has not drastically changed this landscape, why not? The uneducated are the uninformed, the uninformed are easy to manipulate with never ending promises. So the uneducated are kept uneducated. Money is spent on far more pressing expenses - BILLIONS are annually spent on celebrations, extravagant cars, houses for the MP's etc. Yet people go on uneducated, hungry, homeless, with no proper sanitation or running water. Where does the money come from? Well, the majority of the taxes paid are contributed by the minority whites/indians/etc who are often told to get out of the country. The problem is they're leaving by the millions.

    As the gentlemen above said, it's intent on destroying itself, and he's quite right. In time (5, 10 years, give or take), it will implode, hopefully never as bad as Zimbabwe. The government is stealing from their very own people and now they can dust it under the carpet easier than before. And what they can't dust, I'm sure they'll "Jik" the evidence away.

    The only reason anyone can be pro the South African government, is if 1. you aren't living here, or 2. you are the South African government.