Imtiaz Fazel on Monday was officially confirmed by President Cyril Ramaphosa as the Inspector-General of Intelligence and he faces serious challenges as highlighted by the Zondo commission report on State Capture and the Mufamadi high level panel report on intelligence. President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Imtiaz Fazel as the inspector-general of intelligence for the next five years, with effect from November 1, 2022, following approval by the National Assembly of Fazel’s nomination. File Picture.
The newly appointed inspector-general of Intelligence, Imtiaz Fazel, will play a watchdog role over the activities of the Defence Intelligence, Crime Intelligence and the State Security Agency.
Fazel faces serious challenges, as highlighted by the Zondo commission report on State Capture and the Mufamadi high-level panel report on the State Security Agency.
The problem highlighted by both reports is that the agencies have been found to be partisan and that its resources have been used to interfere in opposition politics and ANC factional battles.
Opposition parties have called on Fazel to be non-partisan and provide thorough oversight into all the intelligence agencies.
The key challenges:
In his recommendations, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said: "The Inspector General of Intelligence should be allowed more access into the activities of the country’s intelligence services. There has been evidence by the current IGI (Setlhomamaru Dintwe) that attempts were made to frustrate some of his investigations."
Part of the problem for Fazel, as pointed out by KZN violence monitor Mary de Haas, is that the office of the IGI is funded by the SSA and this raises questions over its independence.
“He needs to motivate Parliament for legislative change, so that he can get his own funding, so he is not beholden to an entity that he is meant to play a watchdog role over,” said de Haas.
During the State Capture Commission, evidence was presented by several witnesses, especially Dr Sydney Mufamadi, that there had been abuse of the intelligence apparatus. It had been involved in the operations and politics of the ANC. This line of thinking was also echoed in 2018 by a panel report, “High level review panel report on the state security agency”, led by Sydney Mufamadi,
Fazel’s office needs to be better resourced. The violence in July 2021 in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng highlighted the inability of intelligence operatives to pre-empt the social conflict and looting, by gathering information in advance of the unrest.This intelligence failure took place despite citizens being aware of an impending riot. The impact of the protests lingers, especially on the economy.
After the unrest, Professor Sandy Africa, Advocate Mojanku Gumbi and Silumko Sokupa released the ‘Report of the expert panel into the July 2021 civil unrest’. They they found that the Cabinet executive had failed dismally and had not fulfilled their duties.