General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill [B25-2011]: finalisation

Meeting report

Finalisation of the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill
The Chairperson advised that the Committee had completed most of the work on the Bill and only minor technical matters needed to be finalised.  The Committee had requested the State Law Adviser to prepare the instruction for the printing of the A version of the Bill (i.e. the amendments to the Bill as agreed by the Committee).  The Committee would consider the A version of the Bill to ensure that all the amendments agreed to were included.  The Bill would be formally adopted by the Committee.  The processing of the Bill would be complete once the Committee adopted its report on the Bill.

Advocate Hermann Smuts, State Law Adviser confirmed that the A version of the Bill was printed on 26 March 2013 (see attached document).  He took the Committee through the amendments to clauses 1, 2, 4, 5, 11, 14 and 49.  Clauses 6 and 8 were rejected.  A new clause 6 was inserted.  The Committee had agreed to the amendments to the Bill during the proceedings held on 26 March 2013.

The Committee proceeded with the formal process to accept or reject each clause in the Bill.  Clauses 1 to 16 were accepted..

Mr D Maynier (DA) requested that the objections of the Democratic Alliance to clauses 1, 2, 4, 7, 14 and 16 were noted.

Mr A Maziya (ANC) and Mr J Thibedi (ANC) asked what the rationale was for the DA’s objection to clause 16.  Clause 16 not discussed during the Committee’s deliberations on 26 March 2013.

Mr M Sonto (ANC) understood that the current proceedings allowed parties to either accept or reject the clauses in the Bill.  He felt that the DA should have raised its concerns over clause 16 earlier.

Mr Maynier pointed out that clause 16 contained key provisions regarding the establishment of the State Security Agency (SSA).  The DA had raised its concerns over the matter during previous deliberations on the Bill.

Mr F Bhenghu (ANC) observed that the DA had not included clause 16 in the document containing the party’s proposed amendments to the Bill that was submitted to the Committee for consideration.  However, the party could lodge an objection to any clause in the Bill.

The Chairperson agreed that the establishment of the SSA was debated during previous deliberations on the Bill.  The Committee would note if there was agreement on the clauses in the Bill or if an objection was lodged.  He noted the objection of the DA to clause 16.

The Committee continued with the formal acceptance of clauses 17 to 55.  The objection of the DA to clause 49 was noted.

The Committee accepted Schedule 1 to the Bill.  The Memorandum on the Objects of the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill, 2011 was accepted.

Advocate Smuts noticed that paragraph 3.2 of the Memorandum referred to provisions that were omitted from the Bill.  He suggested that only the first sentence in paragraph 3.2 was retained in the final version of the Bill.

The Chairperson understood that changes to the Memorandum would only be regarded as material amendments if other Departments were severely impacted or if there would be a significant financial impact.

Mr Thibedi suggested that the Committee accepted the Memorandum, as amended.

Ms Mgabadeli proposed the motion for the adoption of the Bill.  The motion was seconded by Mr Bhenghu.

The Chairperson temporarily adjourned the meeting to allow Members to study the draft Committee report on the Bill.  When the meeting resumed, he advised that Members felt that the draft report required further attention.  He suggested that the Committee postponed the adoption of the report to the 16^th April 2013, when Parliament reconvened after the Easter recess.  The date, time and venue for the meeting would be advised in due course.  Members were requested to submit their comments on the Committee report to his e-mail address.  The Committee authorised the State Law Adviser to correct any minor spelling or punctuation errors in the Bill.  The Committee should be informed if any minor corrections were made.

The Chairperson thanked the Members, the State Law Adviser, the Parliamentary Legal Adviser, the Acting Director-General of the SSA and all supporting personnel for their effort and assistance in finalising the Bill.

The meeting was adjourned.