DIS is for Khama

The Directorate on Intelligence and Security (DIS) is an instrument of fear more than of intelligence collection and has been unable to ward off skepticism and suspicion, a senior DIS agent has said.

Lesego Tsholofelo’s observation is a clear sign of discontent and that intelligence relations are at the lowest point.Tsholofelo is a DIS director heading the recently established elite special task team within the agency. He was previously the organisation’s director of operations.

Tsholofelo’s dissertation was part of his Master of Arts intelligence and security studies from Brunel University in London. The dissertation paper was titled, ‘Critical Evaluation of the Intelligence oversight regime in Botswana’. While the dissertation does not offer anything new, it has since created debate within the agency more so that it was penned by an insider. Considered an authority in the intelligence community, Tsholofelo, who is also a former BDF officer is alleged to have rubbed his superiors the wrong way. His superiors allegedly view his academic work as a letdown, more especially coming from one of their own. According to Tsholofelo the tumultuous circumstances surrounding the formation of the DIS in 2006/7 had considerable negative effect on its image. The DIS he says has not been able to ward off this negativity associated with it.

“The haste and manner with which the DISS legislation was enacted sowed seeds of skepticism and suspicion about the role of the agency in a democratic Botswana. An apparent failure to address this concern has seen the agency being dogged by negative publicity for the better part of its short existence. Consequently, this has undermined the DISS civil – intelligence relations and by extension negatively affected the effectiveness of the country’s oversight mechanisms,” he said. The dissertation further expresses worry at the manner at which the director general of the agency is appointed. “…What emerges as a matter of concern is the unilateral appointment of the DG by the president. In most liberal democracies such an appointment, including those of security chiefs, requires confirmation by parliament or consultation with the opposition representation.”

The current appointment procedures Tsholofelo, said, do not promote consensus building nut furl perception of partisanship. He says the current appointment arrangement may be open to abuse by the president, “… a president who may harbour ill intentions on the use of the directorate may appoint someone who, once in office, would be at both his own personal and political bidding instead of national interest.” Tsholofelo called for a more transparent way of appointing the DIS head. Tsholofelo also took a swipe at the DIS oversight bodies such as the parliamentary committee of intelligence and security and the DIS tribunal for being ineffective and failing in their mandates of holding the agency to account.

Members of the oversight bodies are appointed by president Ian Khama. According to Tsholofelo the missing element from the PCIS’s function is the oversight on the activities or operations of the directorate. “Without access to at least some operational information, the question arises as to how the committee ensures the DIS’s activities are consistent with their mandate. While it is acknowledged that there are inherent dangers with exposing intelligence matters to parliamentary scrutiny, it cannot be overstated that in a well functioning liberal democracy no area of government is a ‘no-go’ for legislature,” he said. The ISS Act he says does not empower the PCIS to examine the operations of the directorate. Following the resignation of most opposition members from the PCIS in protest over the manner in which MPs are appointed, the committee is said to have lost its credibility. “With its current composition the committee has lost its effectiveness as premised on credibility emanating from its inter-party posture,” read the dissertation.

According to Tsholofelo politicisation has crept in with regards to the tribunal. He said that the appointment of Isaac Seloko as the tribunal’s chairperson is still mired in credibility controversy owing to his active affiliation with the BDP. This he said has raised questions of impartiality and independence of the tribunal. The failure of the tribunal in delivering a single report since it was appointed has added credence to skepticism about its relevance in its current form, said Tsholofelo. “Given the importance of the independence and impartiality in any judicial structure, this situation therefore does not augur well for a desirable oversight mechanism. A politically neutral chairman would therefore be more ideal if the tribunal is to command some credibility,” he advised. DIS director general Isaac Kgosi has flatly refused to grant Botswana Guardian an interview.