Weekly Mail Reporter
THE Weekly Mail & Guardian is testing the limits of the new government’s policy of transparency by demanding access to police and Military Intelligence files.
This could lead to the first important test of the public’s right to state information as guaranteed under the new constitution.
The WM&G has asked the ministers of Safety and Security and Defence for copies of their files on:
* The newspaper itself, which was the subject of a great deal of attention from the police and military during the late 1980s.
* Co-editor Anton Harber.
* Murdered Swapo leader Anton Lubowski, whom the previous government claimed was in the pay of Military Intelligence.
* Ministers Sydney Mufamadi and Joe Modise, both the subject of police and military scrutiny before they joined the government.
The newspaper has argued that it has a constitutional right to such information. The Bill of Rights in the new constitution gives one the right to state information insofar as it is necessary for the pursuit or protection of one’s rights.
In letters to the two ministers, the newspaper has said the information requested is crucial to a number of individual and group rights: the right to privacy, the right to dignity, the right to economic activity, as well as the public’s right to know and the freedom of the press.
In a carefully worded reply, Mufamadi said he is considering the request for information. “I have directed appropriate inquiries so that I may respond to your request without improperly prejudicing any legitimate state interests or the rights of other members of the public.”
In the Lubowski case, Modise has taken refuge behind a sub judice rule, arguing that the matter “could … form part of a civil suit already instituted and/or criminal proceedings presently under consideration by the Namibian authorities”. Replying to Modise this week, the newspaper contested any suggestion that this overrode constitutional rights to information.
On the other files requested, Modise said he did not “wish to restrict public access to official information more than is appropriate or necessary. However, information can only be released in accordance with my responsibilities, which, according to international standards, are subject inter alia to the interests of the public, the security of the state, and the right of others.”
Modise asked for more details of the information requested and the reasons for this.
The WM&G has instructed lawyers to take the matter to court if information is not supplied.