| ACLU | | American Civil Liberties Union |
| AFIS | | Automated Fingerprint Information System |
| AMCU | | Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union |
| ANC | | African National Congress |
| ANPR | | Automatic number-plate recognition |
| APC | | Association for Progressive Communications |
| APF | | Anti-Privatisation Forum |
| CAA | | Civil Aviation Authority |
| CALEA | | Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act |
| CBD | | central business district |
| CCTV | | closed circuit television |
| CIA | | Central Intelligence Agency |
| CID | | Crime Intelligence Division |
| COSATU | | Congress of South African Trade Unions |
| DA | | Democratic Alliance |
| DSM | | Democratic Socialist Movement |
| DSO | | Directorate of Special Operations |
| EFF | | Economic Freedom Fighters |
| EFF | | Electronic Frontier Foundation |
| eNATIS | | Electronic National Administration Traffic Information System |
| EPIC | | Electronic Privacy Information Center |
| EPIC | | Emergency Policing and Incident Control Programme |
| ETSI | | European Telecommunications Standards Institute |
| EU | | European Union |
| FBI | | Federal Bureau of Investigation |
| FIC | | Financial Intelligence Centre |
| FISA | | Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act |
| FISC | | Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court |
| GCHQ | | Government Communications Headquarters |
| GILAA | | General Intelligence Laws Amendment Act |
| HANIS | | Home Affairs National Identification System |
| ICANN | | Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers |
| ICTs | | information and communications technologies |
| IMSI | | international mobile subscriber identity |
| INTERPOL | | International Criminal Police Organisation |
| IP | | internet protocol |
| IPCC | | Independent Police Complaints Commission |
| IPT | | Investigatory Powers Tribunal |
| IRIS | | incident registration information system |
| ISIS | | Islamic State for Iraq and Syria |
| ISP | | internet service provider |
| ISPA | | Internet Service Providers’ Association |
| ITS | | intelligent transport systems |
| JMPD | | Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department |
| JSCI | | Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence |
| KZN | | KwaZulu-Natal |
| LRC | | Legal Resources Centre |
| MK | | Umkhonto we Sizwe |
| MPDP | | Media Policy and Democracy Project |
| NAT | | Department of National Intelligence and Security (also National Security) |
| NATO | | North Atlantic Treaty Organisation |
| NC | | National Communications |
| NCACC | | National Conventional Arms Control Committee |
| NCC | | National Communications Centre |
| NGO | | non-governmental organisation |
| NIA | | National Intelligence Agency |
| NICOC | | National Intelligence Coordinating Committee |
| NIS | | National Identity System |
| NIS | | National Intelligence Service |
| NSA | | National Security Agency |
| NUMSA | | National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa |
| OCR | | optical character recognition |
| OECD | | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |
| OIC | | Office for Interception Centres |
| OSF-SA | | Open Society Foundation for South Africa |
| PIN | | personal identification number |
| POPI | | Protection of Personal Information |
| R2K | | Right2Know Campaign |
| RICA | | Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act |
| RIPA | | Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act |
| RGA | | Regulation of Gatherings Act |
| SADF | | South African Defence Force |
| SAHA | | South African History Archive |
| SANDF | | South African National Defence Force |
| SANRAL | | South African National Roads Agency |
| SAPS | | South African Police Service |
| SARS | | South African Revenue Service |
| SASS | | South African Secret Service |
| SASSA | | South African Social Security Agency |
| SIGINT | | signals intelligence |
| SIM | | subscriber information module |
| SSA | | State Security Agency |
| SSC | | State Security Council |
| TRC | | Truth and Reconciliation Commission |
| UN | | United Nations |
| UJ | | University of Johannesburg |
| UK | | United Kingdom |
| US | | Unites States of America |
| USSR | | Union of Soviet Socialist Republics |
| WASP | | Workers and Socialist Party |
| WAU | | Worker’s Association Union |
