Intelwatch: Submission on the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill of 2023 (GILAB)
We at Intelwatch sincerely hope that this submission will assist the Ad Hoc Committee in making history by amending the intelligence legislation that has contributed to the heavy price South Africa paid for the State Capture era. While it is important to look to international legal practice, we must bear in mind that, whether we look to the East, West, North, or South, intelligence services the world over are usually in the news for all the wrong reasons – illegal interception, clandestine and unauthorised operations, extralegal renditions, torture, illegal detentions, misinformation campaigns, and the infiltration of civil society are only some examples of the lawlessness that plagues intelligence services in even the world’s most advanced democracies.
Major democracies, such as the United Kingdom, United States, and countries in the European Union have, despite years of legislative reforms, still not solved the problem of keeping intelligence services from carrying out illegal and unethical intelligence activities. Thus, while we should look for solutions in other democracies, we should also not shy away from home-grown solutions to our legal problems pertaining to intelligence.
South Africa has a robust legislative system with many legal instruments at our disposal to rectify the past wrongs that have cost our country so dearly. The Ad Hoc Committee has the power to seize upon this opportunity for South Africa to become a world leader by producing intelligence legislation that is truly fit for a democratic country.