The Intelligence Services Act (also ''National Strategic Intelligence Act'') was

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...

revamping the

intelligence agencies An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of inf ...

of the Republic of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, passed by the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

on 2 December 1994.South Africa intelligence profile
/ref> The legislation established new intelligence agencies, dismantling those used to enforced the

Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

regime. New institutions were established under a system designed to respect and protect civil liberties, promote transparency and de-politicize South Africa's security agencies.

History

During the decades of Apartheid regime, South Africa's security and intelligence agencies were used to conduct surveillance, infiltration and intelligence activities against civil rights organizations such as the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

, African politicians, militants and armed groups in

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

and

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

(now

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

). The Bureau of State Security (BOSS) and its successor, the National Intelligence Service were condemned for suppressing civil rights activities and organizations by harsh methods and had a notorious reputation for racism. The Intelligence Services Act was passed by the post-Apartheid democratic government to reform South Africa's security organizations.

Provisions

The new laws were developed under the framework of the new

Constitution of South Africa The Constitution of South Africa is the supreme law of the Republic of South Africa. It provides the legal foundation for the existence of the republic, it sets out the human rights and duties of its citizens, and defines the structure of t ...

, with greater emphasis on civil liberties, rule of law and control of abuse of authority. Intelligence agencies would be subservient to the democratic, civilian government and responsible to parliamentary oversight. The agencies would be required to work within the law, be politically neutral and enforce an ethics code. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) was dismantled, with the responsibilities of non-military

foreign intelligence Intelligence assessment, is a specific phase of the intelligence cycle which oversees the development of behavior forecasts or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organization, based on wide ranges of available overt and cover ...

and

counterintelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's Intelligence agency, intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering informati ...

operations shifting to the newly created South African Secret Service. The National Intelligence Agency was created for domestic intelligence and internal security operations. The Crime Intelligence department of the

South African Police Service The South African Police Service (SAPS) is the national police force of the Republic of South Africa. Its 1,154 police stations in South Africa are divided according to the Provinces of South Africa, provincial borders, and a Provincial Commis ...

was created to combat organized crime and

trafficking Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

. The Ministry of Intelligence Services was created in 1996 to regulate and oversee South Africa's intelligence agencies, bolstering co-operation between intelligence agencies. Much of the provisions reformed the administration, pay structure, functioning and operational methodology of intelligence and security services that would involve law enforcement, rights of the citizens and special permissions required for actions concerning national security.

Implementation

Two subsequent amendments were passed – the Security Officers Amendment Act (1996) and the Amendment to the National Strategic Intelligence Act (1998). The National Strategic Intelligence Act incorporated regulations to make distinct "internal" military intelligence from "foreign" military intelligence, with new bodies governing the intelligence agencies and operations. However, South African government authorities have faced numerous challenges in undertaking a smooth transition for national security and intelligence, with remnants of the Apartheid-era regime being difficult to police and control and efficient staff and operatives being difficult to train and replace, affecting the quality of intelligence gathering.

References

{{reflist South African intelligence agencies Repealed South African legislation 1994 in South African law