Khulumani actively engages nationwide with its member groups through community capacity-building in the use of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), and the empowerment it provides to communities to monitor delivery on development plans in local communities.
In the light of its engagement in PAIA, Khulumani supports the proposals from the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory for four amendments to the Protection of State Information Bill to be considered to "cure the problem(s in the current formulation of the Bill), without compromising the fundamental principles of the Bill" thereby ensuring its compliance with the Constitution.
These are detailed as:
- the return to the Bill of provisions for dealing with requests for classified information in terms of the Promotion of Access to information Act;
- for the inclusion of a "public-interest defence" to allow a whistleblower or journalist who discloses or publishes classified information to argue that the disclosure was justified in the public interest;
- for the public interest override to be reformulated; and
- for a review of the presently very narrow provisions for automatic declassification of old-‐order classified information.
These proposals are detailed in the attached summary explanation.
