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 No. 51 of 1977 ), and the provisions of subsections (1), (4) and (5) of the said section 154 shall apply mutatis mutandis.