Pretoria: President Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended the Inspector-General of Intelligence, Imtiaz Fazel, pending the outcome of an investigation by Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) into his conduct.
According to South African Government News Agency, the JSCI informed the President that it had received a complaint regarding the conduct of the Inspector-General. The committee plans to conduct an investigation in accordance with Section 7(4) and 7(5) of the Intelligence Services Oversight Act (Act 40 of 1994).
Section 7(5) of the Act stipulates that if the Inspector-General is the subject of an investigation by the JSCI in terms of subsection (4), the President may suspend the Inspector-General pending a decision in such investigation. Mr. Fazel has been suspended with immediate effect, as stated by the Presidency.
Fazel was appointed to the position in November 2022, and his five-year term is set to end in October 2027. The Inspector-General of Intelligence is responsible for monitoring and reviewing the operations of South Africa’s intelligence services, including the State Security Agency (SSA), Defence Intelligence Division of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), and the Crime Intelligence Division of the South African Police Service (SAPS), to ensure they operate within the framework of the law and the Constitution.