PRESS RELEASE
Parliament says no to vile and dehumanising porn, as Bill goes to PresidentPRESS RELEASE BY CAUSE FOR JUSTICE: 20 MARCH 2019
** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE **
SUBJECT: PARLIAMENT SAYS NO TO VILE AND DEHUMANISING PORN, AS BILL GOES TO PRESIDENT
National Assembly says “no” to DoC’s proposed free-for-all
The National Assembly (NA) on Tuesday (19 March) went against amendments proposed by the Department of Communications (DoC) in the Films and Publications Amendment Bill, by deciding to keep in place the prohibitions against the distribution of –
- Sexually explicit material that violates or disrespects human dignity; and
- Content which is degrading of human beings.
According to Cause for Justice (CFJ) Executive Director and Legal Counsel, Ryan Smit:
“These amendments to the original text of the Bill constitute justifiable limitations to freedom of expression and give expression to the “objective normative value system” contained in the Bill of Rights.”
“It serves as confirmation that constitutional freedoms – in this case ‘freedom of expression’ – may not be used to violate people’s inherent worth or human dignity. Any attempt to employ freedom of expression for such purposes, would constitute an abuse and illegitimate exercise of constitutional freedoms. We accordingly agree with and welcome the NA’s decision declaring that such actions are illegal/unlawful.”
The Bill will now go to the President, who must decide whether to assent to and sign the Bill or send it back to the NA for reconsideration based on reservations about the constitutionality of the Bill.
Background history
The DoC first introduced the Bill in the NA in November 2015, proposing the deletion of these prohibited distributions (amongst other proposals) – which would have had the effect of opening the floodgates for the distribution of more vile, dehumanising and degrading material in South Africa. Over a two-year period, CFJ engaged the NA Portfolio Committee on Communications (PCC) through written and oral submissions and other formal and informal, direct and indirect engagements – to no avail, as the NA adopted the DoC’s proposals on 6 March 2018.
The Bill then moved over to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), where the Select Committee, after a public outcry, invited CFJ to make oral representations to them in September 2018. And consequently, based in part on CFJ’s written submissions and oral representations in Parliament, the Committee decided to uphold the legal prohibitions. The NCOP adopted the Bill on 4 December 2018 and returned it to the NA for congruence, ending in Tuesday’s final adoption of the amended Bill.
Bill goes to President Ramaphosa; Concerns about the constitutionality of the Bill
The Bill will now go to the President, who must decide whether to assent to and sign the Bill or send it back to the NA for reconsideration based on reservations about the constitutionality of the Bill.
Despite the improvements noted above, the Bill still suffers from several constitutional deficiencies, both procedural and substantive, as well as glaring oversights, gaps and textual incongruencies, which will all result in unintended consequences and/or make the Bill unimplementable in practice.
CFJ will now engage the President about its reservations about the constitutionality of the Bill.
[PRESS RELEASE ENDS]
For further queries, contact CFJ at:
Email: info@causeforjustice.org
Tel: 074 355 0775