Issued by Daniela Ellerbeck on behalf of the FW de Klerk Foundation on 01/04/2025

On Friday, 28 March 2025, the President signed the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill, generally referred to as the “GILAB”, into law. (It is now called the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Act.) The Act, amongst other things, implements the Presidential High-Level Review Panel on the State Security Agency’s 2018 recommendation that the State Security Agency be split into two separate services: A domestic and a foreign service.

“The Act that was assented to is the very much reworked version passed by Parliament on 16 May 2024,” says Daniela Ellerbeck an attorney and the FW de Klerk Foundation’s Constitutional Rights Programme Manager.

In early 2024, Parliament opened the first version of the Act (then known as the Bill) for public comment. This initial version sparked massive public outcries, because it would have given the South African intelligence services carte blanche to decide whom to subject to invasive vetting investigations. This would have infringed directly upon various constitutional rights, such privacy and access to justice (sections 14, 34 and 38 of the Constitution).

“This is a success story of the power of public participation,” explains Ellerbeck. “Because the public participated, Parliament listened to the people and made the required substantive changes, including the changes the Foundation requested.”

The FW de Klerk Foundation believes that the new Act in its current form is a testimony to constructive public participation in action and thanks everyone who participated in this public participation process.