Surveillance in the Majority Network attended #DRIF25 to initiate the African Surveillance Studies Network (join here!). We met a lot of inspiring activists, researchers, and practitioners and facilitated an exchange of experiences in a panel on researching surveillance in Africa. Our panel, organised by our board members Azadeh Akbari and Jimmy Kainja, featured the voices of prominent surveillance researchers in Africa, including:
- Jane Duncan: Professor of Digital Society at the University of Glasgow and Director of Intelwatch
- Juliet N. Nanfuka: Research and Communications Officer, The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)
- Admire Mare: NRF-Rated Full Professor and Head of Department: Communication and Media Studies, University of Johannesburg
- Tony Roberts: Digital Cluster Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex and board member of African Digital Rights Network
- ‘Gbenga Sesan: Executive Director of Paradigm Initiative
Here you can read more about the amazing research on surveillance technologies by our panellists:
- Book: Digital Surveillance in Africa: Power, Agency and Rights (2025), edited by Tony Roberts & Admire Mare, Bloomsbury
- Book: National Security Surveillance in Southern Africa: An Anti-Capitalist Perspective (2024) by Jane Duncan, Bloomsbury (open-access)
- The state of Deployment of Surveillance Technologies in Africa (2024), Paradigm Initiative
- Book: Digital Surveillance in Southern Africa: Policies, Politics and Practices (2022), by Allen Munoriyarwa and Admire Mare, Palgrave Macmillan
- CIPESA: State of Internet Freedom in Africa 2022: The Rise of Biometric Surveillance
- Mapping the Supply of Surveillance Technologies to Africa (2021), African Digital Rights Network
- African Surveillance Law Reports (2021), African Digital Rights Network
- Book: Stopping the Spies: Constructing and Resisting the Surveillance State in South Africa by Jane Duncan (2019), Wits University Press
These are the surveillance-related panels that we attended at DRIF25:
Talk: Journalists Under Surveillance: Understanding threats to build collective responses
Jonathan Rozen, Program Coordinator (Africa), Committee to Protect Journalists
Session Host: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Across Africa, journalists have been repeatedly targeted with surveillance technologies and tactics seeking to track them down and arrest them, as well as in efforts to reveal their sources. Such digital repression often goes hand in hand with physical violence and can cause long-lasting psychological harm. In response, journalists and others in civil society must tangibly understand these threats so they can effectively defend themselves, advocate for systemic change, and help others do the same.
Panel: Spyware deployment globally: possible paths towards regulation
Moderator: Clarice Tavares
Director of research, InternetLab
Co-speakers:
Chiti Mbizule Mutati, Programmes Officer (Southern Africa), Paradigm Initiative,
Mariana Marques Rielli, Co-director, Data Privacy Brasil
Rafael Bonifaz, Derechos Digitales
Carl Jancz, Digital security specialist, Marialab | Digital Defenders Partnership (DDP)
Session Host: InternetLab
This panel will examine the use of spyware by state and private actors, focusing on its impact on privacy and fundamental rights, with an emphasis on regulatory challenges. It will focus on fostering a critical dialogue around the governance of spyware technologies, using cases of spyware use in different countries to discuss the deployment of such technologies, its risks on fundamental rights and the possibilities for regulation at the national and global levels. The session will highlight the urgency of creating regulations and address the use of spyware while safeguarding human and digital rights.We hope this session engages experts from various sectors and perspectives to discuss spywares’ risks and strategies for mitigating harmful effects.
The panel’s main goal is to discuss the difficulties in developing regulations that protect privacy, freedom of expression, and other fundamental rights. The disproportionate use of spyware negatively impacts vulnerable groups, exacerbating discrimination and social control.
Some of the key objectives include: mapping the current use of spyware technologies globally, highlighting some of the most prominent cases in different jurisdictions; exploring regulatory challenges at both national and international levels, identifying gaps in existing laws and treaties; and debating possible solutions and best practices to balance security needs with fundamental rights, emphasizing democratic governance and oversight of digital surveillance.
Panel: Curving Spyware Abuse through Legislative Processes: The Case of South Africa’s RICA Reforms
Speakers:
Hinako Sugiyama, Senior Counsel and Digital Rights Fellow, International Justice Clinic at the University of California
Jane Duncan, Professor of Digital Society, University of Glasgow
Tachilisa Balule, senior lecturer, University of Botswana
Sam Sole, Managing Director, AmaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism
Session Host: International Justice Clinic at the University of California, Irvine School of Law Digital surveillance threatens civil society and journalists.
Sophisticated surveillance methods like spyware leave civil society vulnerable, as outdated law often provides insufficient safeguards to protect freedom of expression and privacy. The implications are huge: spyware abuse undermines confidentiality in journalistic sources, attorney-client privilege, and evidence integrity by altering data. Globally, civil society is pushing for stronger regulations to address advances in surveillance technologies, with South Africa standing out. In 2021, South Africa’s Constitutional Court declared the Regulation of Interception of Communications Act (“RICA”) unconstitutional for lacking sufficient safeguards. The court mandated reform to align RICA with the Constitution, presenting Jane Duncan, a Professor of Digital Society at University of Glasgow and the International Justice Clinic at the UC Irvine Law School with an opportunity to consolidate civil society’s demands and convey them to the Parliament to advocate for robust safeguards against surveillance. This event aims to: highlight vulnerabilities caused by inadequate legal protections; share strategies and progress pursued by civil society in South Africa; and build international support for robust reforms of RICA. Speakers will also discuss the importance of specific safeguards like a public advocate to address ex-parte nature of the application of surveillance authorization and post-surveillance notification.
Surveillance and Elections in Digital ID Transition
Moderator: Emmanuel Okiri, Communications Specialist, Nubian Rights Forum
Speakers:
Thandeka Chauke, Statelessness Programme Head, Lawyers for Human Rights (South Africa)
Susan Mwape, Common Cause Zambia
Annette Opiyo, Paralegal, Nubian Rights Forum
Session Host: Nubian Rights Forum
The increasing adoption of digital identity systems across the global south has raised significant concerns about surveillance, data privacy and electoral intergrity. As governments intergrate digital identity systems into voter registration and election management, there is growing debate on whether this technologies strengthen democracy or pose new risks to electoral freedoms. This session will explore the intersection of digital identity, surveillance, and elections, analyzing both the opportunities and threats that come with the digital ID transition.
The discussion will focus on how digital ID systems can impact voter inclusion, electoral transparency, and democratic participation. It will also examine the surveillance risks associated with these systems, including potential voter suppression, privacy violations, and data exploitation. Experts from civil society, academia, and policy-making will provide insights on how to safeguard democratic processes while adopting digital ID technologies.
The integration of digital ID systems into voter registration and election management is becoming increasingly common. These systems are designed to enhance electoral processes by reducing fraud, improving efficiency, and increasing voter participation. By providing a reliable means of verifying voter identity, digital IDs aim to strengthen the integrity of elections. However, while these benefits are significant, they come with potential risks that must be carefully considered.
Panel: Digital Surveillance in Africa
Session Host: African Digital Rights Network
Moderator:
Admire Mare, NRF-Rated Full Professor and Head of Department: Communication and Media Studies, University of Johannesburg
Speakers:
Gifty Appiah-Adjei, Lecturer, University of Education, Winneba
Jimmy Kainja, Senior Lecturer, University of Malawi
Kiss Abraham, Director, NewZambian
This panel will explore the third volume of Bloomsbury’s Digital Africa series, which examines the rise of digital surveillance technologies across Africa. Focusing on the development, procurement, and misuse of spyware, biometric systems, mobile phone extraction, and face recognition, the book highlights the increasing surveillance of African citizens. Drawing on research by the African Digital Rights Network, it delves into the political, social, and economic dynamics driving digital surveillance in eight African countries, offering in-depth historical context and policy recommendations at local, national, and international levels to address the challenges posed by these technologies.
Talk: Digital Trust and Accountability in the Age of Government Surveillance in Africa
Bwengye Anthony, Lead Researcher at TopUp Academy | Digital and Innovation Specialist
Session Host: Enabel – The Beligian Development Agency
In recent years, there has been an alarming rise in the use of foreign spyware and ICT tools by African governments to monitor and suppress dissent. Social media platforms like Twitter, messaging services using VoIP, and telecom networks are increasingly weaponized to surveil and silence individuals and organizations perceived as opposing forces. This trend threatens digital trust, accountability, and fundamental freedoms across the continent. This panel discussion will examine how pervasive surveillance affects digital trust and accountability, highlight case studies from Uganda and other African nations, and explore solutions for safeguarding privacy, promoting responsible governance, and rebuilding trust in digital ecosystems.
Talk: Surveillance or Security? Exploring transnational repression in East Africa. Methods and Challenges and Exploring Solutions
Mercy Abiro Owilla, Tech researcher, Thraets
Session Host: Thraets
Kenya’s rise as a surveillance state has far-reaching implications, with opposition figures from Tanzania, Uganda, and South Sudan being targeted by Kenyan authorities. The abduction and deportation of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye in November 2024 and the disappearance of Tanzanian activist, Maria Sarungi Tsehai in January 2025 highlight Kenya’s role in transnational repression. This has raised concerns about the extent to which the Kenyan government is willing to use its surveillance capabilities to silence dissenting voices from across borders.
These surveillance tactics include physical tracking in unmarked vehicles, digital monitoring via mobile phones and cell tower data, social media scrutiny, and CCTV exploitation. These methods enable comprehensive targeting of activists, journalists and critics.
This session will explore how state actors deploy spyware and advanced technologies to crack down on dissent, undermine democratic processes, and maintain authoritarian control. We will also discuss solutions, including international cooperation, diplomatic pressure, civil society engagement, and legal action, to combat this growing threat to human rights in East Africa.
