South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has ascended to a law that unbundles the State Security Agency (SSA) into two distinct entities in a move aimed at addressing challenges within the country’s intelligence services.
According to presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, the South African leader on Friday signed the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill into law, initiating a major restructuring of the country’s intelligence services.
The amendment Act disbands the SSA and establishes two new entities responsible for foreign and domestic intelligence gathering, respectively.
“The new departments are the Foreign Intelligence Service (FIS) which shall be responsible for foreign intelligence gathering so as to identify opportunities and threats to national security, and the Domestic Intelligence Agency (DIA) which shall be responsible for counterintelligence as well as the gathering of domestic intelligence in order to identify threats to national security,” Magwenya said.
The law, which also re-establishes the South African National Academy of Intelligence and its associated training institute, implements recommendations from the 2018 Presidential High-Level Review Panel on the SSA, and of the Zondo Commission on state capture.
These reports identified critical weaknesses in the agency, including allegations of corruption, mismanagement and abuse of power under previous administrations.
Additionally, the amendment introduces stringent measures to regulate bulk interception of internet traffic by intelligence services.
These include internal authorisations and judicial oversight to ensure compliance with privacy and constitutional rights.
To enhance accountability, the new law places the financial and administrative operations of intelligence entities under the scrutiny of parliament’s multiparty Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence.
It also grants greater autonomy to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and the National Intelligence Coordinating Committee, reinforcing their roles in oversight and coordination.
JN/APA