This four year research project seeks to strengthen public oversight of digital surveillance for intelligence purposes, with a specific focus on southern Africa. Digitisation has provided intelligence agencies with the capabilities to conduct surveillance at an unprecedented scale, which requires effective oversight to limit the potential for abuse. In many countries, oversight is usually carried out by official institutions such as Parliament, courts, independent statutory offices, or an ombudsman, whose role is to monitor and review surveillance capabilities to ensure that intelligence agencies use them effectively and lawfully.
However, across southern Africa - where digital surveillance is expanding - these official oversight institutions typically lack the power and resources to perform these functions. Consequently, oversight in these countries typically is conducted by the public through, for instance, challenging unjustifiable secrecy, publicising abuses and organising campaigns to rein these agencies in.
Through comparative case study research exploring lessons from key moments when public oversight has been attempted in the region, this research uses a mixed methods approach to explore these issues in eight southern African countries (Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo ((DRC)), Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Mozambique) and seeks to establish whether public oversight has succeeded, failed, or achieved mixed outcomes.
Policy briefs, policy and legislative engagement
- See the project's policy briefs, policy and legislative engagements
New publications
Watching the Watchers: Special Issue of Journal of Contemporary African Studies
This Special Issue of the Journal of Contemporary African Studies examines public oversight of digital surveillance for intelligence purposes, specifically relating to Africa. It is derived from a research project directed by one of the co-editors, Jane Duncan, and supported by a British Academy Global Professorship awarded to her in 2022 for four years, entitled ‘Public oversight of intelligence-driven surveillance: a comparative case study analysis of eight Southern African countries’, which investigates public oversight mechanisms in Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The other co-editor, Sarah Chiumbu, was the Mauritius researcher on the project.
Rogue spying: South Africa's crisis of accountability in the state intelligence sector
Jane Duncan
In South Africa’s democracy, the civilian intelligence agency’s power has been weaponised to spy on political rivals, the media and civil society, while oversight institutions largely falter. As inquiries into Jacob Zuma’s presidency opened doors for intelligence reform, Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration has, at important moments, offered superficial fixes, entrenching state control.
Rogue Spying exposes this betrayal of public trust, tracing its roots to historical conflicts and international drivers. With authoritarian nationalism on the rise globally, powerful nations fuel a lawless surveillance race, threatening democratic freedoms worldwide – South Africa included.
Drawing on exclusive interviews, declassified documents, and the author’s intrepid activism, this account reveals how whistleblowers, journalists and legal counsel have fought for accountability through mass mobilisation, investigative journalism and strategic litigation.
Rogue Spying is a clarion call. It provides valuable insights and explores strategies to promote transparency and control over intelligence, ensuring it serves public interest, not state power.
Democratising spy watching: Public oversight of intelligence-driven surveillance in Southern Africa
Edited by Jane Duncan and Allen Munoriyarwa
Digitisation has provided intelligence agencies with the capabilities to conduct surveillance at an unprecedented scale. Using a range of digital surveillance technologies and practices, and unprecedented public-private collaborations, intelligence agencies have extended their ability to collect, store and analyse data for intelligence purposes. Effective oversight is required to limit the potential for abuse. However, across Southern Africa – where digital surveillance is expanding – official oversight institutions typically lack the power and resources to monitor and review surveillance capabilities in order to ensure that intelligence agencies behave effectively and lawfully. Consequently, oversight in these countries typically is conducted by the public, through, for instance, challenging unjustifiable secrecy, publicising abuses and organising campaigns to rein these agencies in.
Through comparative case study research exploring lessons from key moments in the region, this volume explores public oversight of intelligence-driven digital surveillance in eight Southern African countries and examines cases where this oversight either succeeded, failed, or achieved mixed outcomes. Authored by researchers and journalists from the fields of law, communication and media studies, this book offers lessons for academics and activists, suggesting that a new model of public oversight of surveillance is possible, and, arguably, functions better than extant approaches to surveillance. It is of global significance, as surveillance abuses are a worldwide problem, as is the problem of oversight failing to keep pace with expanding surveillance capabilities.
This book is published on an open access basis by Scottish Universities Press under a CC BY-NC Licence, and is available for download here.