This submission on the Draft Paper on Digital Futures: South Africa’s Digital Readiness for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Draft Paper) is made by Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), and endorsed by the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF), the Interactive Advertising Bureau of South Africa (IABSA), the Centre for Human Rights (CHR), and the Coalition on the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms (AfDec Coalition).

The undersigned signatories agree that, following the President’s referral, an opportunity has arisen to address the many unconstitutional aspects of the Bill. The overarching concern is the need to strike the appropriate balance between the genuine needs of state security against the rights to freedom of expression and access to information.