To provide for the protection from disclosure of certain information; and to provide for matters connected therewith.
[NB: In terms of s. 36 (1) of the Legal Succession to the South African Transport Services Act 9 of 1989, the reference to 'the South African Transport Services' in the above provision shall be construed as a reference to the Company (Transnet Limited) and the Corporation (the South African Rail Commuter Corporation Limited).
the Office as defined in section 1 of the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act, 2002 (Act 70 of 2002), or which relates to the functions of Comsec, the Intelligence Services, the Academy or the Office or to the relationship existing between any person and Comsec, the Intelligence Services, the Academy or the Office.
Definition of 'security matter' substituted by s. 32 (1) of Act 38 of 1994, by s.
Act 65 of 2002, by s. 26 of Act 68 of 2002 and by s. 25 (2) of Act 52 of 2003.
any reference to any offence or prosecution under any provision of this Act includes a reference to an offence or a prosecution under the provisions of section 18 of the Riotous Assemblies Act, 1956 (Act 17 of 1956), read with the relevant provisions of this Act.
Any person who approaches, inspects, passes over, is in the neighbourhood of or enters any prohibited place for any purpose prejudicial to the security or interests of the Republic, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 20 years.
neglects or fails to take proper care of such code, password, document, model, article or information, or so to conduct himself as not to endanger the safety thereof, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding R10 000 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years or to both such fine and such imprisonment, or, if it is proved that the publication or disclosure of such secret official code or password or of such document, model, article or information took place for the purpose of its being disclosed to a foreign State or to a hostile organization, to the penalty prescribed in section 2.
Any person who receives any secret official code or password or any document, model, article or information, knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe, at the time when he receives it, that such code, password, document, model, article or information is being disclosed to him in contravention of the provisions of this Act, shall, unless he proves that the disclosure thereof to him was against his wish, be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding R10 000 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
without lawful authority uses or wears any military, police or other official uniform of the Republic, or any uniform worn by a person employed at or in a prohibited place, or any uniform so closely resembling any of the said uniforms as to be calculated to deceive, or falsely represents himself to be a person who is or has been entitled to use or wear any such uniform; shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding R5 000 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
of subsection (1), shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to the penalties prescribed in subsection (1).
Any person who obstructs, knowingly misleads or otherwise interferes with any person engaged on guard, sentry, patrol or other similar duty in relation to any prohibited place shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding R1 000 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 12 months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
knowing that any agent or any person who has been or is in communication with an agent, whether in the Republic or elsewhere, is in the Republic, fails forthwith to report to any member of the South African Police Service the presence of or any information it is in his power to give in relation to any such agent or person, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding R1 000 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 12 months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
[S. 7 amended by s. 4 of Act 18 of 1996.
is an agent or is being or has been or is reasonably suspected of being or having been directly or indirectly used by a foreign or international body or institution, or has entered or is within the Republic in contravention of any law, it shall, unless the contrary is proved, be presumed that the document, model, article or information referred to in section 3 has been prepared, compiled, made, obtained or received, or the secret official code or password or the model, article, document or information referred to in section 4 (1) has been published or disclosed, as the case may be, for purposes of the disclosure thereof to a foreign State or to a hostile organization.
any address, in the Republic or elsewhere, reasonably suspected to be an address used for the receipt of communications intended for an agent, or at which an agent resides, or to which he resorts for the purpose of giving or receiving communications, or at which he carries on any business, shall be deemed to be the address of an agent, and any person who addresses communications to such address shall be deemed to have been in communication with an agent.
If in any prosecution against any person for an offence under section 3 it is proved that he is an agent or that he is or has been or is reasonably suspected of being or having been directly or indirectly used by or on behalf of any foreign or international body or institution or that he has entered or is within the Republic in contravention of any law and that he has prepared, compiled, made, obtained or received any document, model, article or information other than that referred to in section 3 (a) , or any document, model, article or information relating to a place, article or matter other than that referred to in section 3 (b) (i) or (ii), it shall, unless the contrary is proved, be presumed that such document, model, article or information may directly or indirectly be of use to a foreign State or a hostile organization.
In any prosecution under this Act upon a charge of committing an act for a purpose prejudicial to the security or interests of the Republic, it shall, if, from the circumstances of the case or the conduct of the accused, it appears that his purpose was a purpose prejudicial to the security or interests of the Republic, be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, that the purpose for which that act has been committed, is a purpose prejudicial to the security or interests of the Republic.
If in any prosecution under this Act upon a charge of publishing or disclosing any secret official code or password or any document, model, article or information for a purpose prejudicial to the security or interests of the Republic, it is proved that it was published or disclosed by any person other than a person acting under lawful authority, or by an agent or by a person who is or has been or is reasonably suspected of being or having been directly or indirectly used by any foreign or international body or institution or who has entered or is within the Republic in contravention of any law, it shall, unless the contrary is proved, be presumed that the purpose for which it was published or disclosed is a purpose prejudicial to the security or interests of the Republic.
Any act constituting an offence under this Act and which is committed outside the Republic by any South African citizen or any person domiciled in the Republic shall be deemed to have been committed also in the Republic.
Any offence under this Act shall, for the purposes of determining the jurisdiction of a court to try the offence, be deemed to have been committed at a place where it actually was committed and also at any place where the accused happens to be.
No trial or preparatory examination in respect of any offence under this Act, except any contravention of section 6, shall be instituted without the written authority of the attorney-general having jurisdiction in the area concerned.
Any court may, if it appears to that court to be necessary for considerations of the security or the other interests of the Republic, direct that any trial or preparatory examination in respect of an offence under this Act, shall take place behind closed doors or that the general public or any section thereof, shall not be present thereat, and if the court issues any such direction, the court shall have the same powers as those conferred upon a court by section 154 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (Act 51 of 1977), and the provisions of subsections (1), (4) and (5) of the said section 154 shall apply mutatis mutandis.
any association of persons, movement or institution outside the Republic to be a hostile organization if he is satisfied that that association of persons, movement or institution incites, instigates, commands, aids, advises, encourages or procures any person in the Republic or elsewhere to commit in the Republic an act of violence for any purpose prejudicial to the security or interests of the Republic, and may, in like manner at any time repeal or amend any such proclamation.
[S. 14 amended by s. 4 of Act 18 of 1996.
The laws specified in the Schedule are hereby repealed to the extent set out in the third column of the Schedule.
This Act shall be called the Protection of Information Act, 1982.
Act 16 of 1956 Official Secrets Act, 1956 The whole.
Act 65 of 1956 Official Secrets Amendment Act, The whole.
Act 7 of 1958 Police Act, 1958 Section 27C.
Act 101 of 1969 General Law Amendment Act, 1969 Sections 10, 11 and 12.
Act 102 of 1972 General Law Amendment Act, 1972 Section 10.