By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended Inspector General of Intelligence (IGI) Imtiaz Fazel with immediate effect, pending an investigation into his conduct.
Fullview understands Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) received a complaint on the conduct of the Inspector-General and that the committee will conduct an investigation in line with section 7(4) and 7(5) of the Intelligence Services Act (Act 40 of 1994).
As a result, the JSCI informed the president that it has received a complaint on the conduct of the Inspector-General.
In a statement, presidency says “President Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended the Inspector-General of Intelligence, Mr Imtiaz Fazel, pending a decision in an investigation by Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) into the Inspector-General’s conduct.”
“Section 7(5) of the Act provides 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”.
Fazel is a former chief operating officer – at the level of deputy director-general – in the Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and a former deputy director-general in the office of the director-general of the State Security Agency.
From 2015 to 2020, he served as deputy director-general for governance, risk and compliance in the Department of Public Works, following which he served as acting director-general in the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.
Fazel obtained a Master’s Degree in Security Studies from the University of Pretoria and holds a Bachelor of Accounting Science degree from the University of South Africa.
He also holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Accounting from the University of the Western Cape and is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.