The first public hearing on the controversial General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill (GILAB) descended into expressions of xenophobia in Musina on Monday, with no mention of the bill's provisions.

The bill follows the recommendations of the Presidential High-Level Review Panel on the State Security Agency (SSA), which was chaired by former minister Sydney Mufamadi, and the State Capture Commission, chaired by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

The panel found the SSA "had largely become a parallel intelligence structure serving a faction of the ruling party and, in particular, the personal political interests of the sitting president of the party and country".

Yet, the Ramaphosa administration thought it wise to let the SSA draft the bill.

None of the 25 members of the public, who delivered oral submissions on the bill at the Musina Multipurpose Centre in the Vhembe District Municipality, spoke to these concerns, or any other matter related to the bill.

Instead, the majority of speakers raised concerns about the nearby border and crime, which is blamed on illegal foreign nationals, especially Zimbabweans, and the police's response.

"They come here, they commit crime, maybe kill people, nothing happens," one of the speakers said through an interpreter.

Another added people from Zimbabwe crossed the border illegally and committed crimes.

"My concern is, where is the intelligence?"

He said this also impacted on "food security".

"If we say we have intelligence working in Parliament, we should see changes with regard to the food that we eat as well.

"Most of the spaza shops that we have here are operated by Bangladeshi, Ethiopians, Somalians, but you'll find that they sell food that is not allowed, that is maybe expired.

"Then you wonder, when these things are happening, where is the intelligence?

"I do support the bill, but I wonder, where is the intelligence?"

One of GILAB's main aims was to amend the National Strategic Intelligence Act and other legislation to establish the Foreign Intelligence Service which would be responsible for "foreign intelligence gathering so as to identify opportunities and threats to national security", and the Domestic Intelligence Agency "which will be responsible for counterintelligence as well as gathering of domestic intelligence in order to identify threats to national security", according to the bill's memorandum.

This was proposed by the Mufamadi panel.

However, regarding the commission's findings requiring greater oversight and accountability, GILAB, at face value, appears to do the opposite.

In December, the ad hoc committee processing the bill heard the SSA did not include most of the proposals by the National Intelligence Coordinating Committee - and the bill, in effect, waters down its coordinating role.

Similarly, Inspector-General of Intelligence (IGI) Imtiaz Fazel told the committee the IGI never had the opportunity to present its proposals to the SSA.

He wrote to Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, who oversees state security, about this.

She advised him they should deliver their input to the committee.

Fazel said the bill "in effect, seeks to limit and, in other areas, fails to address the independence of the Office of the Inspector-General".

Another speaker on Monday said she went to Malawi last year, where she fell ill and had to pay for her medication.

She added foreign nationals should also pay for medication in South Africa.

"There is no medication for us, who vote for this government. The medication is being taken by foreigners," she claimed.

A member of Sanco in the Vhembe District, Peter Jack, said they could not adopt the bill, because it was not explained to them.

"The majority of this house, we don't understand this bill. What we are doing right now, we are just pushing a matter of roll call," he said.

"It is very unfair to come to talk to people about something that they don't understand."

However, he shared his thoughts about foreign nationals with the committee and asked if the law only allowed for undocumented Zimbabweans to be deported.

"What about the Indians?" he asked.

Another speaker proposed: "Can't you have a law that companies only employ a few foreigners, the rest should be South Africans."

The final speaker of the day claimed: "The high influx of foreign nationals shows that our government is weak in implementing its policies.

"Those companies are led by foreign nationals, which is why crime is so rife now. Crime is increasing every day because of foreign nationals."

The ANC ward councillor in Musina, Caroline Makhani, said she supported the bill.

She added they were working hard to ensure the community's safety.

Makhani said the Border Management Agency was launched last year.

"We are going to re-erect the [border] fence and make sure our area is safe."

She, too, is concerned there are not enough police officers - another common complaint among the speakers at the hearing.

It was not only concerns about the border that were raised.

Pastor Solomon Takalani said laws were good as it brought peace to communities, but GILAB would "contribute to lawlessness".

"There is no humanity around our people. Without humanity, you'll never have peace," he added.

"You are passing laws that allow men to marry men, women to marry women, where are we going?"

He was concerned there was not a law school days should start with prayer, and also the uniforms of police officers, traffic officers and security guards look too similar.

"We are Africans, and we must instil the African law," he said.

Another speaker added he could "deduce a lot of people here are not talking about the bill".

"Next time, when you hear people talking out of the context, you have the right to stop a person," he advised the committee chairperson, ANC MP Jerome Maake, before opining the bill should include a provision to criminalise women falsely accusing men of rape.

A speaker asked for assistance from the government because they were "dying of mosquito bites".

"So, if you can come and spray the area," she said.

"Back in the apartheid era, they used to come and spray the whole area, but the government is not taking care of us."

She claimed they were dying of malaria.

The committee will remain in Limpopo on Tuesday and Wednesday before heading to Gauteng on Friday and Saturday.