Tau to chair NCOP info bill committee

2011-12-07 14:13

Cape Town - ANC MP Raseriti Tau was elected chairperson of the National Council of Provinces' ad hoc committee on the protection of state information bill on Wednesday.

Tau, also house chair of the NCOP, was elected unopposed by the 15-member committee that will steer the contentious state secrecy bill through Parliament's second house.

A DA member of the committee, Alf Lees, called on Tau to allow a process of public participation on the bill in terms of NCOP rule 103 (1).

This should include a new round of public hearings, he said.

Lees said his party would use the NCOP process to continue to push for the inclusion of a defence to protect the media and whistleblowers who risk prison to publish classified information in the public interest.

The committee is expected to start sitting in the second half of January.

- SAPA