Parliamentary Internal Security Commission Act
The Parliamentary Internal Security Commission Act , Act No. 67/1976 (German: Law on the Parliamentary Commission for Internal Security) was a law in the South African apartheid period to form a commission of the same name.
Its creation followed the work of a parliamentary committee established in 1972 to inquire about organizations in the country. Because the committees were only allowed to work during the session, these committees were unable to work at all other times. In a report, this committee recommended that the government set up a permanent commission for homeland security , which followed the proposal with this law.
The commission consisted of a maximum of 10 members who were appointed by the President from among the members of parliament. With this body, to the exclusion of large parts of parliament, issues were discussed which fell within the competences of the President and which could influence internal security. Furthermore, the effects of legislative proposals and planned administrative regulations on internal security were discussed. Specifically, it was stipulated that reports by the commission, in prior consultation with the opposition leader, were not submitted to parliament if they touched on sensitive security issues. Witnesses could be questioned and evidence was taken in the committee meetings. The constitutional peculiarity of this commission consisted in the fact that, through the decision of the President, it operated in isolation from parliamentary proceedings. Her work touched on issues of fundamental civil rights such as freedom of belief, freedom of expression and freedom of association.
The Parliamentary Internal Security Commission was charged with the House Un-American Activities Committee (House Committee on Un-American Activities) and the work of Joseph McCarthy compared.
literature
- Manfred Kurz: Indirect Rule and Violence in South Africa . Work from the Institute for Africa Customer, No. 30. Hamburg (Institute for Africa Customer) 1981, p. 188