THE Democratic Alliance (DA) has reintroduced to Parliament its private member’s bill that seeks to repeal the outdated apartheid-era National Key Points Act of 1980.
The Protection of Critical Infrastructure Private Member’s Bill is a response to the R246m spent at President Jacob Zuma’s home in Nkandla.
DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said on Tuesday “virtually every line of the (act) — as it currently exists — was designed to ensure that the apartheid state could continue to rule with an iron fist, without transparency and accountability. That this act exists in this form today is an indictment on our hard-won democracy.”
The act was designed to reinforce the safety of the apartheid system and to give the minister of defence broad authority to “declare” any place in SA a national key point. Responsibility for the act was later transferred to the minister of police, where it remains.
DA police spokesperson Dianne Kohler Barnard said: “A by-product of the wide ministerial discretion of the National Key Points Act has, for almost 35 years, allowed for our most critical state infrastructure and strategic installations and buildings to become a hotbed for corruption and secrecy.”
There was no public list of national key points, preventing scrutiny of whether they have been justifiably declared, she said.
“We know the president has 246-million good reasons to keep the National Key Points Act.
“This is precisely why we have to scrap it now, so we do not allow for another Nkandla.… Public money should be spent on our people, not in ensuring President Zuma’s cattle receive five-star treatment at state expense,” Ms Kohler Barnard said.
African National Congress chief whip Stone Sizani said: “Such publicity stunts from the DA are not new. Lindiwe Mazibuko pulled a similar stunt in 2013 when she proposed exactly the same ill-informed bill, which was rejected.
“The DA is aware that there’s a comprehensive and legitimate process within the police ministry to repeal the National Key Points Act to bring it in line with the … Constitution,” Mr Sizani added.
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