National Key Points list must be made public

The announcement yesterday by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Jeff Radebe, that Air Force Base Waterkloof is not a National Key Point is further evidence of how the Apartheid-era National Key Points Act is being selectively used by the government to hide critical information to protect high ranking members of the government.

It is highly irregular that a major air force base would not be considered a National Key Point, while on the other hand President Zuma's private home in Nkandla, which is costing South Africans R206 million to upgrade, has been designated as such. It points to a selective and convenient use of the legislation in order to hide information which might embarrass the government. The fact that the Public Works Task Team report into the Nkandla upgrade won't be made public because of this piece of legislation points to its intentional abuse.

This cannot be tolerated. South Africans deserve to know what has been declared a National Key Point by the government to enable them to work out for themselves whether or not any further corruption scandals are being hidden behind its archaic secrecy clauses.

I therefore call again on the Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa to table the full list of National Key Points in Parliament, and that this list be made public and open to scrutiny.

The 2013/2014 South African Police Services (SAPS) budget indicates that there will be 197 National Key Points by 2015/16, an increase of 15 from 2012/13. If our air force bases are not even on this list, we must question what makes up the 197 National Key Points.

Each time we have asked for this list to be tabled, both cabinet ministers and the chairperson of the police portfolio committee have cited security concerns for not providing the list. This is ridiculous considering they are quite willing to inform us that Nkandla is a National Key Point, and that Air Force Base Waterkloof is not.

Government should not be allowed to determine willy-nilly what is a national key point and what is not. This should be determined by Parliament, and subject to effective oversight.

It is high time the government did what is right and allow South Africans to know the truth.

Statement issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard MP, DA Shadow Minister of Police, May 20 2013

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