Guwahati: The Inspector-General of Intelligence (IGI) of South Africa has been appointed by the nation’s Parliament and is an intelligence agency officer of Indian descent named Imtiaz Ahmed Fazel, PTI reported.
The State Security Agency, Military Intelligence, and the Crime Intelligence branch of the South African Police Services are the three primary intelligence agencies in South Africa. The IGI is authorised by law to look into complaints of abuse in any of these agencies.
The NA gave its approval to Fazel’s nomination in accordance with Section 7(1) of the Intelligence Services Oversight Act, No. 40 of 1994. Fazel outperformed 12 other applicants who were chosen from 25 qualifying applicants for interviews, the report stated.
The appointment still has to be officially confirmed by President Cyril Ramaphosa. “The Act mandates the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) to recommend a candidate for approval by at least two-thirds of the National Assembly Members,” said a statement issued by the NA.
“Once the House approves the recommendation the name is then sent to the President of the Republic of South Africa to consider the nominee for appointment as an IGI. The IGI position became vacant on March 15, 2022,” the statement said.
Fazel will take up the position which has been vacant since the term of the former head of the IGI, Setlhomamaru Isaac Dintwe, ended on March 15 this year. Explaining the delay in the appointment, the statement said that the JSCI had embarked on a thorough appointment process which included extending the deadline for applications “to ensure maximum public consultation and participation on the work of Parliament, as it was cognisant of the importance of the position.”
Fazel began his career in the intelligence field in 1997 as a consultant for the former Ministry of Intelligence Service and worked there until 2002. Fazel held a permanent role as the IGI’s chief operations officer for the following ten years.
He holds a Master’s degree in security studies, among other credentials. Fazel’s most recent position was as the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure’s deputy director-general for risk compliance and governance, where he oversaw a probe into the erroneous building of a 40 million rand fence at the BeitBridge border post with Zimbabwe.