South Africa: ANC agrees to Cwele's changes on secrecy bill

The ANC agreed on Tuesday 13 November to some of State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele's hawkish proposals on the Protection of State Information Bill. Cwele notably appeared to have persuaded the ruling party to re-introduce a maximum five-year prison sentence for the disclosure of classified information, and to re-introduce a clause that would have the new law trump any other legislation dealing with such information. Without explicitly naming the Promotion of Access to Information Act, the new official secrets act would therefore trump it – as Cwele has asked for, and commentators have cautioned could render the bill unconstitutional.