President Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended the Inspector-General of Intelligence, Imtiaz Fazel, pending the outcome of an investigation by Parliaments Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence JSCI into his conduct.
This as the JSCI informed the President that it had received a complaint regarding the conduct of the Inspector-General, and that the committee would conduct an investigation in accordance with Section 74 and 75 of the Intelligence Services Oversight Act Act 40 of 1994.
Section 75 of the Act stipulates that "if the Inspector-General is the subject of an investigation by the JSCI in terms of subsection 4, he or she may be suspended by the President pending a decision in such investigation."
"Mr Fazel has been suspended with immediate effect," the Presidency said in a statement on Wednesday.
Appointed to the post in November 2022, Fazels five-year term is set to end in October 2027.
The Inspector-General of Intelligences mandate includes monitoring and reviewing the operations of South Africas intelligence services 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.