As AI-enabled surveillance technologies are increasingly deployed across Africa – through public CCTV networks, predictive policing across population groups, judicially authorised wiretaps, biometric tracking, automatic number plate recognition and more – courts are tasked with assessing not only probable cause for targeting, but also the reliability, accuracy, and bias of the algorithmic tools used to filter, prioritise, and intercept public activities and communications.
However, without clear rules or standards for AI oversight, particularly in the context of mass surveillance, accountability suffers: individuals have no independent body with clear jurisdiction to receive complaints about surveillance-related violations, citizens face limited recourse, and billions are spent without demonstrable public safety benefits. These developments raise further questions about the distinction between surveillance for public safety and for public control, especially since many researchers argue that expanded digital surveillance has not significantly reduced crime or improved prosecution rates.
Addressing these tensions, Just AI Fellow Hlengiwe Dube argues for institutionalised oversight and accountability of AI-enabled surveillance tools. These oversight and accountability mechanisms are considered a means to protect democratic governance by ensuring that surveillance serves public safety rather than political control, reinforce data justice by guaranteeing individuals reasonable control over their own information, and promote epistemic justice by ensuring that the knowledge of affected individuals and communities shapes surveillance design going forward.
Drawing on available empirical evidence, the brief identifies seven distinct challenges for oversight and accountability, including:
- Judicial oversight;
- Parliamentary oversight;
- Data protection oversight;
- Independent technical auditing;
- Redress mechanisms;
- Civil society oversight; and
- Regional oversight.
Based on these findings, the brief proposes a framework for reform anchored in Research ICT Africa’s Just AI Framework of Inquiry and grounded in African human rights law and emerging continental AI governance instruments.
