POLICE MINISTRY WITHDRAWS NATIONAL KEY POINTS APPEAL
The R2K campaign challenged the police minister to make public the names of 200 key points.
FILE: The police ministry has now confirmed it will formally withdraw an appeal seeking to overrule a judgment ordering it to disclose a list of SA's National Key Points. Picture: EWN.
Mia Lindeque | about 2 hours ago
JOHANNESBURG - The Police Ministry has now confirmed it will formally withdraw an appeal launched in the High Court in Johannesburg seeking to overrule a judgment that ordered it to disclose a list of South Africa’s National Key Points.
Last year, the Right to Know (R2K) campaign challenged the police minister to make public the names of 200 places which have been declared key points saying it is in the public interest.
The police’s legal team had argued that if the names are published it will put the country’s safety at risk.
The police’s Ronel Otto says, “The police will disclose the names of the key points and this is instructed by the court, we have decided to withdraw the appeal that we were going to launch tomorrow.”
National Key Points are protected from being photographed or identified as key points, and are understood to include military installations, services or factories which are considered strategic.
The ministry argued that by revealing the names of the National Key Points, it would compromise the country’s security.
Last year, Judge Sutherland questioned why the names of the key points are being kept secret, saying he’s astonished because the National Key Points Act of 1980 never indicated that this list must be confidential.
In 2012, police refused to release a list of sites protected by the act, citing security concerns.
In 2012, police refused to release a list of sites protected by the act, citing security concerns.
http://ewn.co.za/2015/01/22/Police-ministry-withdraws-National-Key-Points-appeal
