MPs tussle over info bill logistics
2012-01-17 20:07
Cape Town - The ad-hoc committee on the protection of state information bill tussled over logistics on Tuesday ahead of hearings into the proposed law, which are expected to attract considerable public interest.
Committee chairperson Raseriti Tau said they had a limited number of staff and might not be able to achieve everything they wanted to.
"If you look at the amount of work we are confronted with and the human capital we have, we may not be able to achieve everything we wanted to," he said.
Initially, the plan was to divide MPs into two groups for the public hearings in each province.
After an assessment of the committee's resources, however, it was decided that it might be better to split into three groups to give the public greater access to the hearings.
"If we split into three groups of four members each, I think that would be enough," Tau said.
Congress of the People member Dennis Bloem said he wanted only two groups of MPs for the hearings. He said the committee should not use councillors to take part in the hearings.
"This is a very important piece of legislation. We are going to one province. We split into seven or eight and we report back in the evening," he said.
The public hearings on the bill, passed by the National Assembly last November, are due to start in February.
- SAPA
