Pretoria – President Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended the Inspector-General of Intelligence Imtiaz Fazel “with immediate effect”.
Announcing the move late on Wednesday, 15 October 2025, Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President, said Fazel was suspended pending a decision by Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI), which was probing his conduct.
The JSCI has informed President Ramaphosa that it has 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).
No details of the alleged wrongdoing were provided.
However, Section 7(5) of the Intelligence Services 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 was appointed Inspector-General on 31 October 2022, for a five-year term ending in October 2027.
