AfriForum opposes proposed Terrorism Bill that enables government overreach

The civil rights organisation AfriForum today did an oral presentation before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Police opposing the proposed Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Amendment Bill. In August 2022, AfriForum submitted written comments against this proposed legislation.

In the presentation AfriForum made it clear that the organisation does not support the passing of the Bill in its current form. Furthermore, AfriForum welcomed an updating of the Act insofar as it seeks to bring it in line with developments in international law and Constitutional Court judgments.

Many of the Bill’s provisions, which intend to grant greater powers to the police, infringe unfairly on many fundamental rights including the rights to freedom of expression and association; political freedom, right to privacy; to freedom of conscience; access to information, etc. Furthermore, AfriForum argued that there is no single internationally agreed upon definition of “terrorism”. The amendment therefore makes the definition of “terrorist activity” much too wide.

AfriForum presented examples in its oral presentation which demonstrate that the real problem is not insufficient legislation, but effective implementation of the existing legislation. Examples have also been included of how the amendment may be misused to suppress viewpoints which the state does not endorse or support.

“History is fraught with examples of legislation being abused to arrest and jail critics of governments under the guise of countering terrorism. Many South Africans still have in living memory this exact tactic being used by the previous regime,” says Ernst van Zyl, Campaign Officer for Strategy and Content at AfriForum.

“The government lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic proved that granting more power and control to the police and the government would be unwise. The existing legal framework is sufficient. The problem is implementation and execution by state organs in the face of widespread lack of sufficient resources, corruption, mismanagement and cadre deployment,” Van Zyl concludes.

• Watch AfriForum’s oral presentation here.