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

Intelwatch is governed by a volunteer board of researchers and activists focused on public oversight, accountability, and the civic space. It Is run by a dynamic team of security sector experts and relies on a wide and deeply impactful network of investigative reporters, researchers and human rights activists in the Global South. Together its board and staff have over 5 decades worth of experience in the fields of surveillance, intelligence, conflict analysis, political reform and peace building.

BOARD

Jane Duncan

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

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

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.

Paula Cristina Roque

About Paula

Paula Cristina Roque is an author, researcher, and analyst with extensive expertise in human rights, security, and surveillance in Africa. She is the currently a board member of Intel Watch after serving as its Executive Director from 2024-2026 where she launched the media defense project, the elections , intelligence and tech project and the changing nature of regime repression project. She is also a Research Associate for the Centre for African Studies at the university of Oxford and has served as an advisor on Sub-Saharan Africa for the Crisis Management Initiative as well as a Senior Analyst for Southern Africa with the International Crisis Group (ICG).

Previously, she worked as a Senior External Advisor for the South Sudan-Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies and a Senior Researcher for the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). She has also served as the China in Africa Research Co-ordinator for the South African Institute for International Affairs (SAIA), as a journalist in West Africa and the United Kingdom, and in 2020 founded a non-profit organisation Changes for Humanity that operates across the global South funding transformative community projects. She is the author of two books published by Hurst: Governing in the Shadows: Angola’s Securitized State (2021) and Insurgent Nations: Rebel Rule in Angola and South Sudan (2024).

Paula holds a PhD in Development Studies from the University of Oxford, a MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics, and a BA in Social Anthropology from the Instituto Superior de Ciencias do Trabalho e da Empresa (ISCTE).

Rafael Marques de Morais

About Rafael

Rafael Marques de Morais is an Angolan investigative journalist, and human rights defender. He is the founder of Maka Angola, the country’s leading anti-corruption watchdog, and executive director of the Centro Ufolo, with a focus on primary education. He has received multiple international awards for his work and holds degrees from Goldsmiths, University of London, and the University of Oxford.

STAFF

Piers Pigou

Executive Director

About Piers

Piers Pigou has lived and worked in South Africa since 1992; his has been work focused on the documentation and remedy of human rights violations, in particular issues of torture, assassination and political violence. This included several non-governmental organisations, as well the South African and East Timorese truth commissions in their investigation units. He has also worked on transitional justice issues in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Northern Ireland, Canada, Lebanon, Cyprus amongst others. In 2006. Piers became the director of the South African History Archive, an archive dedicated to documenting and archiving past and contemporary struggles for justice in South Africa, the promotion of access to information and enhancing public access to records through materials production and outreach. Between June 2009 and October 2010, Piers was Senior Associate for the International Center for Transitional Justice with responsibility for Southern Africa, and Zimbabwe in particular. Between 2011 and 2024 Piers worked at the International Crisis Group as Project Director for Southern Africa and subsequently a senior consultant. He was also an adviser to the Elders and a parttime investigator for the International Truth and Justice Project focusing on violations perpetrated by Sri Lanka’s security and political establishment. In 2020, Piers also joined the team from the Armed Conflict Location and Events Data (ACLED’s) that produces weekly and monthly incident reports and analysis about the insurrection in northern Mozambique. Between 2023 and 2025, Piers was the Southern Africa Programme Head at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africа. Since 2018, Piers has worked on various private sector consultancies including the African Development Bank, Control Risks, Focus Group, Sibanye-Stillwater, and the Rodor Charitable Foundation.

Herbert Moyo

Research and Journalism Director

About Herbert

Herbert Mncedisi Moyo is an advocacy expert, educationist, journalist and editor with a wealth of experience across Southern Africa and beyond. In his role as Advocacy and Capacity Building Director at Intelwatch, Herbert spearheads initiatives to enhance public oversight of intelligence and surveillance practices, focusing on democratic governance and human rights.

His extensive background includes human rights advocacy in collaboration with various civil society organisations. He has also served as Editor for the Lesotho Times and Sunday Express, where he managed editorial teams and investigative journalism projects, and played a pivotal role in challenging surveillance laws in Lesotho. As a journalist, Herbert has contributed to esteemed publications in several countries, authoring over 900 stories on political, human rights, and development topics. He also mentors young and upcoming journalists across southern Africa.

Yassin Rüegg

Program Manager

About Yassin

Yassin Rüegg is a global health and development professional with experience supporting organisations working across media freedom, protection, and public health in low-resource settings. Her work spans journalist safety, digital security, and health systems strengthening, combining programme coordination, research and analysis, and donor-funded project delivery. She has worked extensively across Sub-Saharan Africa, collaborating with civil society organisations, public institutions, and academic partners on rights-based and evidence-informed initiatives. Yassin holds an MSc in Global Public Health and a BA in African Studies and Development, and brings strong analytical skills, cross-cultural fluency, and a commitment to ethical, advocacy-oriented practice.

Owen Gagare

Advocacy and Capacity Building Director

About Owen

Owen Gagare is an experienced investigative journalist and researcher, who has collaborated with regional and international investigative journalists and organisations. He chairs the Zimbabwe Investigative Journalism Network (ZIJN), established in November 2022 to enhance the capacity of Zimbabwean investigative journalists and equip them with skills and knowledge.

Owen has collaborated with regional and international investigative journalists/organisations among them Investigative Journalism Hub, The Sentry, Open Secrets, Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and Belarusian Investigative Centre on some investigative projects, over the last few years. He has also collaborated with civil society organisations and environmental watchdogs.

Through his investigative work, Owen has exposed corruption, human rights violations, mass surveillance, environmental degradation and undertaken cross border investigations which follow the money, among other things. He has written many stories which hold power to account.

Owen’s investigations have been published by the Global Investigative Journalism Network, Mail & Guardian, Daily Maverick, Ground Up and IJ Hub’s member centres throughout southern Africa.

In addition, Owen is also a media trainer, journalism mentor and an international speaker, who has spoken at high profile media events including the African Investigative Journalism Conference.

Owen is a passionate human rights defender who believes in equality, upholding the principles of democracy, accountability and justice for all.

Sisipho Mbalo

Office Manager

About Sisipho

Sisipho Mbalo is a University of Johannesburg Bachelor of Arts ( Political Science, International Relations, Public Management and Governance) Cum Laude graduate and BA Honors in Politics and International Relations graduate. She is currently pursuing her MA in Politics via research desertion at UJ. She served as a Politics and Technology intern at the 4th Industrial Revolution Digital Policy Research Unit (4DPRU) at UJ. She is an social justice activist working with student movements.

CONTRIBUTORS

Intelwatch has a wide network of investigative journalists and analysts from all over the African continent but because of security concerns cannot be named.

Mmapula Molapong

Botswana Expert

About Mmapula

Mmapula Molapong is a freelance journalist who has reported about surveillance on journalists and opposition party members in Botswana. She has written about interception technologies, video and drone surveillance. Mmapula is a former contributor of the Media Policy and Democracy Project. Previously, she worked with Botswana’s investigative newspapers, Sunday Standard & The Telegraph. In 2021, she received journalism training from WAN-IFRA Women In News (WIN) Leadership Accelerator program. She holds an (Hons) Degree in Digital Film and TV production from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Botswana.

Remember Miamingi

East Africa & the Sudans Expert

About Remember

Remember Miamingi is a South Sudanese human rights and governance expert. He was previously based at the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, and also advised the Political Affairs, Peace and Security Department of the African Union on protecting civilians and child protection in conflict situations. Dr Miamingi holds an LLB law degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria, and LLM and LLD law degrees from the University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.

Anjan Sundaram

Environmental Defenders project advisor

About Anjan

Anjan Sundaram is the author of the award-winning memoirs “Stringer,” “Bad News,” and “Breakup.” Dubbed “one of the great reporters of our age” by BBC foreign correspondent Fergal Keane, his books have been featured by Christiane Amanpour, Fareed Zakaria, and Jon Stewart. He writes regularly for The New York Review of Books and Granta magazine. He graduated from Yale University with degrees in mathematics and holds a PhD in journalism from the University of East Anglia.

Gregory Gondwe

Malawian Expert

About Gregory

Gregory Gondwe is a seasoned journalist, editor, and media trainer, whose contributions to the field of investigative journalism have made a significant impact in Malawi and beyond. He is the founder, editor, and managing director of the Platform for Investigative Journalism (PIJ), a trailblazing initiative in Malawi dedicated to exposing corruption and promoting transparency. His career, which spans over three decades, is a testament to his unwavering commitment to the truth, even in the face of significant personal and professional risks.

Frederico Links

Namibian Expert

About Frederico

Frederico Links is a Namibian journalist, editor, researcher, trainer and activist. He is an Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) Research Associate and has focused on governance issues, anti-corruption strategies, democracy and elections, party political finance, cybersecurity policy, and data protection. He is the Editor of the IPPR’s Namibia Fact Check project and the lead researcher for Procurement Tracker Namibia. He has previously worked as a journalist for a range of Namibian publications.

Naledi Sikhakhane

South African Expert

About Naledi

Naledi Sikhakhane is a journalist based in Durban, South Africa. She writes for Daily Maverick and her work has also been featured in Mail and Guardian, and AllAfrica Global Media among other media in Africa. Naledi is a social justice journalist who covers topics including digital surveillance developments, privacy rights, food justice and land rights amongst other human rights issues.

Murray Hunter