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.

STAFF

Paula Cristina Roque

Executive Director

About Paula

Paula Cristina Roque PhD is an author, researcher, and security sector analyst with extensive expertise in human rights, security, and surveillance in Africa. She has served as an advisor for the Crisis Management Initiative as well as a Senior Analyst for Southern Africa with the International Crisis Group. Previously, she worked with the South Sudan-Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies, the Institute for Security Studies, the South African Institute for International Affairs, and as a journalist in West Africa and the UK. 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.

Sisipho Mbalo

Research & Social Media Intern

About Sisipho

Sisipho Mbalo is a University of Johannesburg Bachelor of Arts ( Political Science, International Relations, Public Management and Governance) Cum Laude graduate and a current BA Honors in politics and International Relations. 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.

Kwazi Nwana

Design & Technology

About Kwazi

Kwazi Nwana is seconded by ALT Advisory, where he is a technologist working on digital design, technical support, and web development. Kwazi has a keen interest in developing technology that protects and promotes fundamental rights. He holds a certificate in Desktop Publishing and Design from Vega and a Higher Certificate in Management.

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.

Herbert Moyo

Lesotho Expert

About Herbert

Herbert Moyo is a seasoned editor and journalist from Lesotho who has worked on human rights, history, politics and social justice, developmental stories. He has written over 800 stories for at least 23 different publications around the world. He was previously an editor of two of Lesotho’s biggest newspapers, the Lesotho Times and the Sunday Express.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Murray Hunter

South African Expert

About Murray

Murray Hunter is a specialist on digital rights, advocacy and communications. Before joining ALT Advisory, he held various advocacy and leadership roles at the Right2Know Campaign (2010-2012; 2014-2019), Open Secrets (2012-2013), and the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism (2020). He has also given media consulting to a range of civil society initiatives, most recently the South Africa Media Innovation Program.

Murray has authored investigative reports and publications on communications surveillance and data protection, and in 2019 published a children’s book about surveillance capitalism.

He received a Bertha Activist Fellowship in 2014, and the Ruth First Fellowship in 2021.

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.

Deus Rweyemamu

Tanzanian expert

About Deus

Deus Valentine Rweyemamu is a social justice activist and governance researcher and advisor. With over a decade experience working to promote social justice in the Eastern African region, he joined colleagues to set up Center for Strategic Litigation (CSL) in 2018 amid concerns over growing impunity and gross human violations in Tanzania. The CSL’s mission is to promote a constitutional culture in which the promotion of justice for all and rule of law are essential pillars of a democratic state, and citizens are empowered to advance their fundamental rights and freedoms indiscriminately.

Our funding?

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