The Right2Know campaign and Privacy International (PI) have applied to intervene as amici curiae in the matter of amaBhungane challenging the government on the law around spying on citizens, says a News24 report. AmaBhungane filed an application in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) last year, making a case that Rica (the Regulation of Interception of Communication and Provision of Communication Related Information Act) is unconstitutional.

In his affidavit, Right2Know organiser Murray Hunter said the organisation and PI support the applicant's arguments. AmaBhungane and its managing partner, Sam Sole, filed the papers against the Ministers of Justice, State Security, Communications, Defence and Police, as well as the office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence, the Office for Interception Centres, the National Communications Centre, the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and the State Security Agency.

‘To be clear, R2K and Pl's position is that unregulated, untargeted surveillance of information, merely because it happens to cross SA’s borders is unconstitutional,’ Hunter said.

‘That is not to say that the intelligence services are prohibited from intercepting any foreign communication. But they can only do so in a way that is targeted and carefully regulated. The current regime exhibits neither of those features.’ Among the reasons cited for Rica's unconstitutionality is that it does not notify the subject that their communications are being intercepted.

News24 previously reported that amaBhungane had said that state officials do not follow procedure when examining, copying, sharing, saving, storing or destroying the intercepted information; that the appointed Rica judge cannot be viewed as independent because there is no appointment mechanism for the designated judge other than his or her appointment by a Minister; and that Rica fails to regulate all bulk surveillance and foreign signals interception undertaken by state officials.

Full News24 report