Siyabonga Mkhwanazi

ANC MP Gloria Borman defied her party’s instruction to cast her vote in support of the Protection of State Information Bill. Instead she followed her conscience and abstained.

Speaking to The New Age yesterday, Borman said she had to think long and hard before deciding whether to go along with her comrades in the ANC or follow her conscience regarding the contentious draft bill.

While Borman opted to abstain, veteran ANC MP Ben Turok walked out of the chamber when voting began.

This angered the ANC, which said in a statement yesterday, that: “The conduct of comrades like Ben Turok in raising their objections by abstaining and using the media smacks of ill-discipline and will be handled internally by the ANC.”

UDM MP Stanley Zoyisile Ntapane was the only other parliamentarian who decided to abstain from voting.

The ANC ordered all its 264 MPs to be present in the chamber when voting took place.

Although not all the party’s MPs showed up, the 229 who voted in favour of the bill were sufficient to see the proposed legislation through. It will now be referred to the National Council of Provinces for consideration. If approved there it will be sent to President Jacob Zuma to be signed into law.

However, Borman said the Protection of State Information Bill, known as the Secrecy Bill, was not the dreadful law that the media had made it out to be.

She made it clear that she was a proud member of the ANC and the ruling party was fighting corruption wherever it reared its ugly head.

But when it came to the bill there were certain aspects she was not comfortable with.

“I spoke to people who are legally trained and I felt I had o abstain.

“It would seem to me that there is an element of accountability missing,” Borman said of the proposed law. “What is worrying people is worrying me too,” she added.

The ANC backbencher was also not happy about the fact that there were no stiff penalties for people who expose corruption in government.

The bill proposes a 15-year jail term for a person found in possession of classified material.

As a Christian she said she could not find it in herself to vote in favour of the bill.

She said she had to wrestle long and hard with what was wrong and right with the bill.

Although it has been approved in the National Assembly, Borman said there was still another opportunity to engage with the bill – in the National Council of Provinces.

She said it was important that the bill replaced the apartheid protection of state information of 1982 that was promulgated by PW Botha.

Meanwhile the ANC welcomed the passing of the bill, saying it was convinced of the constructive role it would play in our constitutional democracy.

Noting the objections against the bill, the ANC expressed the view that, “the construction of the legislation is in keeping with international practice and it is in the interest of all South Africans that information in the hands of the state must be handled with care and proper accountability as is the norm all over the world”.

siyabongam@thenewage.co.za