Nelson Mandela Foundation and Wits co-convene forum to discusses access to information legislation

On 8 June 2011 the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and the University of the Witwatersrand co-convened a dialogue between structures of the state and of civil society about the Protection of Information Bill in relation to other legislation.  The dialogue was informed by a briefing document prepared by Wits Professors Iain Currie and Jon Klaaren.

This document has been revised in light of the dialogue and is now released into the public domain, and is attached below.

A follow up dialogue was co-convened by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Law on 23 June.

State structures represented were the Department of Justice, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and the National Intelligence Agency.  From civil society were the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution, the Institute for Security Studies, the Khulumani Support Group, the Mapungubwe Institute, Media Monitoring Africa, the Open Society Foundation, Public Service Accountability Monitor, the Right2Know Campaign, South African History Archive and the South African National Editors Forum.

The Right2know Campaign tabled a written response, ‘Breaking the Logjam’ attached below to the Briefing Document published after the first focus group meeting.  This became the basis for a robust discussion which identified key areas of concern requiring further urgent attention by Parliament. 

The extension to the Parliamentary drafting process was welcomed.

Source: Nelson Mandela Foundation website

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