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This volume examines the use of artificial intelligence (AI) surveillance tools, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV), facial recognition, and license plate readers, across Africa. Although governments claim these technologies combat cybercrime and terrorism, the book shows that they are often used to monitor citizens without their knowledge or consent.
The book also reveals that China has become the leading supplier and installer of these tools, helping to build powerful surveillance systems in many African countries. Drawing on examples from across the continent, the book argues that these technologies are shaping new forms of digital control. This book will appeal to scholars, policymakers, diplomats, human rights advocates, and students of African politics, international relations, and security studies.
List of contents
Chapter 1. The Contradictions of Surveillance Tech in Africa: An Introduction.- Chapter 2. The Sinofication of Surveillance in Africa: Exploring Emerging Dynamics.- Chapter 3. African Digital Authoritarianism and China s Role: Implications on Democracy and Human Rights.- Chapter 4. Chinese Digital Technologies and the Construction of Surveillance States in Africa.- Chapter 5. China, Security, the Spread of Remote Surveillance Models and the Construction of the "Panoptic State" in Cameroon.- Chapter 6. Chinese Funded Surveillance Systems in Zimbabwe: Socio-Economic, Political and Ethical Implications.- Chapter 7. The Potency of National Identity and Interest in the Penetration of Chinese Technologies in South Africa.- Chapter 8. China's Surveillance Technology and Civil Liberties in West and Southern Africa.- Chapter 9. Weaponisation of Digital Sovereignty in Africa.- Chapter 10. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and Africa s Quest for Digital Transformation.- Chapter 11. US-China Digital Competition in Africa: The Perspectives of IR Theories.- Chapter 12. Towards the Decolonisation of Surveillance Technologies in Africa: Apostscript.
About the author
Dr. Gorden Moyo is currently the Research Fellow in the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Fort Hare (UFH) in South Africa. He is also a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Lupane State University in Zimbabwe as well as the Director of the Public Policy and Research Institute of Zimbabwe. Further, he serves as an editorial board member of the Sabella Abidde Publishing House, University of Alabama (USA), as an Associate Member of the International Society for Development and Sustainability, as the President of the Development Studies Association of Zimbabwe, and as a Member of the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum Technical Group on Public Financial Management. Moyo is a former Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, a former Minister of State Enterprises and Parastatals, and a former Member of Parliament of Zimbabwe as well as an ex- British Council Facilitator of the Pan-African Leadership Interaction Programme in 19 countries across Africa. He is a Chevening Scholar whose research focuses on global finance, international economic relations, developmental states, public leadership, military commercialism, digital governance, Africa-China relations, and African Agency. His publication record includes several journal articles and book chapters as well as nine books. His most recent books include African Agency, Finance, and Developmental States (Palgrave McMillan, 2021); Making Politics in Zimbabwe’s Second Republic: the Formative Project by Emmerson Mnangagwa (Springer, 2023) co-edited with Prof Kirk Helliker; Africa in the Global Economy: Capital Outflows, Enablers and Decolonial Responses (Springer, 2024); and Global Storms and Africa in World Politics: Contemporary Challenges and Decolonial Responses (2025) Co-edited with Prof Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni (Springer Nature, 2025).
Summary
This volume examines the use of artificial intelligence (AI) surveillance tools, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV), facial recognition, and license plate readers, across Africa. Although governments claim these technologies combat cybercrime and terrorism, the book shows that they are often used to monitor citizens without their knowledge or consent.
The book also reveals that China has become the leading supplier and installer of these tools, helping to build powerful surveillance systems in many African countries. Drawing on examples from across the continent, the book argues that these technologies are shaping new forms of digital control. This book will appeal to scholars, policymakers, diplomats, human rights advocates, and students of African politics, international relations, and security studies.
