KEY FEATURES OF SURVEILLANCE LAWS IN THE SADC REGION Surveillance legislation in the region lags behind in terms of adherence to international standards as explained above. Countries in the region have promulgated legislations that do not, in many instances, meet these demands for transparency and accountability. Thus, the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance, the UN Draft Instrument on Government-led Surveillance and Privacy and the African Commission (2019) Declaration of Principles of Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa frameworks are still to be fully realised in many countries of the region. A general trend is the absence of the core ingredients of transparent and accountable surveillance. Interception of communication is still not legal in most instances. Retention of metadata after surveillance is still whimsical and not properly regulated in some countries. Most of the countries provide no mechanism for use notification. TABLE 1: SUMMARY OF THE FEATURES Country Is there a law? Is there judicial oversight on the police? Is there judicial oversight on intelligence officers? Is it restricted to serious offences? South Africa DRC Tanzania Malawi X X Does law require metadata to be retained? X X 36 months X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 36 months Botswana Eswatini Is there user notification? Are metadata and content given equal protection? X X Lesotho Namibia Mozambique X X X X X X Angola Zambia Zimbabwe SIM registration? X X X X X X X X X X X 3 months X 6 months Source: Munoriyarwa and Mare, forthcoming A SURVIVAL TOOLKIT FOR JOURNALISTS Page 9