UNEMPLOYED & SOCIAL ACTIVISTS COMMITTEE

( USAC )

P.O. Box 204

GUGULETU

7751

Tel. 021-637 0678

 

The Secretary of Parliament

P. O. Box 15

Cape Town

8000

ATT: Mr Nkosekhaya Lala

Dear Sir

Re: Submission on the Anti-Terrorism Bill [B12-2003] or ATB.

We are making this submission on behalf of the above mention organisation. Our feeling is that the ATB is the most repressive act than the apartheid act and we reject it in all its form. For example:

  1. lack of transparency – published only in internet
  2. similar to anti-terrorism act of apartheid
  3. basic human rights are infringed
  4. It took three years to make the bill, but people are required to respond within 12days.
  5. Detention without trial is unconstitutional

N.B. This bill is intended to defend only the imperialist globalisation and the comprador bourgeoisie of South Africa

The government wants to introduce specific legislation to the country to tackle terrorism yet the laws, which help the country to deal with terrorism; using the existing laws efficiently stopped for example bombing in Gauteng. This is an endevour to give more powers to the police hence a police state is inevitable.

The definition of terrorism per se is no where to be found yet the terrorism act amounts to unlawful act, convention offence and likely to intimidate the population or the segment of the population i.e. this is very ambiguous and the whole is contradictory. The fundamentals of the ATB are flawed – this B12-2003 is lifted from the Canadian Bill. I must emphasise the fact that terrorism cannot be defined but terrorism act is defined meaning that the government wants to punish all those who oppose it in anyway.

Law has covered everything they want to punish as an offence, yet they still want to exploit the black working class without any legitimate protests or demonstrations against oppression.

Under Section 3 – the international protected persons (this includes diplomats from imperialist countries like US/UK who invaded and occupied IRAQ) cannot be likely intimidated or else one or an organisation(s) will be committing a serious offence and can be tried in the imperialist country. This shows us that our government, which we proudly elected, seized to be a government of the people but an agent of imperialists oppressors and exploiters. There can be very harsh sentences for this kind of offence including life sentences without parole. It rests solely with the interest of justice to keep one in detention without bail.

Under investigative hearings – you are obliged to answer questions, if not you will be breaking the law. In our constitution you are not obliged to answer questions and you can sue police for wrongful arrest, yet this Bill does not adhere to that.

The Minister has powers, similar to those of apartheid, to ban the organisation or individual:

  1. if the Security of UN passes a resolution and decide the organisation is a terrorist then the Minister must follow suit
  2. if the Minister thinks a particular organisation is committing acts of terrorism, he/she has the right to ban the organisation
  3. if the organisation has been declared terrorist, you can only challenge that decision in the High Court which is very expensive for the ordinary toiling masses and the black working class
  4. the Minister is not obliged to inform you / organisation that you are a terrorist so that you can the at high court within the given 60 days of appeal
  5. The Financial Intelligence Centre Act makes sure that there are no financial support for the "terrorist" organisations i.e. the minute they discover that the "terrorist" organisation has assets / money they will have the right to seize the assets or freeze the money; therefore the legitimate financial institutions may be closed; if the bank suspects your deposit or withdrawal, the bank must immediately inform the Financial Intelligence Centre.

Protection of the person making the report i.e. impimpi – under this Bill you don’t need to cross examine the accuser, because that person will be protected by the law.

This Bill is not consistent with the South African constitution, and there is no justification of this Bill because terrorism has not been defined yet.

The International Terrorism Act has been enforced to all countries that are members of the UN but it is very important to study the foreign policy of the USA both economically and militarily, for example the pre-emptive strikes of the countries deemed "terrorist" by the USA meaning if you disagree with the USA, they can declare you and your country as "terrorists". The international community has changed since the IRAQ war.

We therefore conclude that this Bill must be totally rejected instead of trying to modify it. This Bill is going to be used to suppress / repress the fellow South Africans who are struggling against the exploitation by imperialist globalisation and macro-economic policy ( GEAR ) e.g. Social Movements in South Africa like Anti-Eviction Campaign, Anti-Privatisation Forum, Anti-War Coalition, Landless People’s Movement, etc.

Thank very much for your considerations.

Yours in struggle

Mhlobo Gunguluzi

(Co-coordinator)