About

Intelwatch is dedicated to research, policy work and advocacy to strengthen public oversight of state and private intelligence agencies in Southern Africa and around the world.

Founded in 2022 in South Africa, Intelwatch aims to build on the work of the Media Policy and Democracy Project, a research collaboration between two South African universities from 2012 to 2023, which included a focus area on surveillance and online rights.

Our purpose

Based in the global South but working internationally, we aim to promote democratic oversight of intelligence and surveillance, monitor and report on surveillance activities, raise awareness and provide education about the dangers of undemocratic intelligence and surveillance activities, and advocate for effective oversight of surveillance laws, policies, and practices.
Our approach

We support research and journalism, engage with policymakers, and build capacity with civil society to achieve our objectives. We work to ensure that laws, policies, and practices relating to intelligence and surveillance protect fundamental rights and freedoms and that victims of unaccountable intelligence and surveillance activities have recourse to justice.

Our people

In its founding phase, Intelwatch is governed by a volunteer board of researchers and activists focused on public oversight, accountability, and the civic space. Intelwatch currently operates through a secretariat model coordinated by its partner organisation ALT Advisory, and one full-time staff member.

DIRECTORS

Jane Duncan

Board Member

About Jane

Professor Jane Duncan has written and worked extensively on public oversight of security agencies and related issues. She was a co-founder of the Media Policy and Democracy Project, the forerunner of Intelwatch, and was appointed to a Presidential High-Level Review Panel on South Africa’s State Security Agency. She is now a professor of Digital Society at the University of Glasgow and holder of a British Academy Global Professorship, and previously held positions at the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University. Her books include Stopping the Spies: Constructing and Resisting the Surveillance State in South Africa and The Rise of the Securocrats.

Dale McKinley

Board Member

About Dale

Dr Dale McKinley is a long-time political activist, researcher, writer and lecturer who presently works at the International Labour Research and Information Group (ILRIG). He has been involved in social movement, community and political struggles for over three decades. Dale holds a PhD in Political Economy/African Studies from the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), USA. He is the author of numerous books, book chapters, articles, and research reports on various aspects of South African and international political, social and economic issues.

Allen Munoriyarwa

Board Member

About Allen

Dr Allen Munoriyarwa is a lecturer and researcher at the Department of Media Studies at the University of Botswana. He is the former research coordinator of the Media Policy and Democracy Project, the forerunner of Intelwatch, and has authored and co-authored various peer-reviewed journal articles and research reports on a range of topics including the media, electoral violence, and state surveillance. He was a postdoctoral fellow and assistant lecturer at the University of Johannesburg, and holds a doctorate in journalism from the same university.

STAFF

Murray Hunter

Acting Executive Director
(on behalf of ALT)

About Murray

Murray Hunter is seconded by ALT Advisory, a public interest consulting collective where he works on research and advocacy at the intersection of technology and human rights. He previously held positions at the Right2Know Campaign, Open Secrets, and the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism, and has worked extensively on advocacy and activism to counter repression and security politics. He has authored investigative reports and publications on communications surveillance and data protection, and in 2019 published a children’s book about surveillance capitalism.

Heidi Swart

Research and Journalism
Coordinator

About Heidi

Heidi Swart is an investigative journalist who has reported on surveillance in the public and private spheres for close to a decade. She has written about interception technologies, cyber espionage, video surveillance, and biometric identification systems. She received journalism training at Independent Newspapers through their cadet programme in 2010, as well as on-the-job training at the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism in 2011. In 2012, she was awarded the Eugene Saldanha Memorial Fellowship for social justice reporting at the Mail & Guardian. She holds a bachelor’s (cum laude) and master’s degree (cum laude) in Social Work from Stellenbosch University.

Kwazi Nwana

Design and Technology
(on behalf of ALT)

About Kwazi

Our funding

Intelwatch is supported through grant funding from Global Dialogue and The Funders Initiative for Civil Society.