DIS caves in, reinstates suspended official
Sharon Mathala | Monday October 17, 2022 06:00
. Mmegi can reveal that the DIS and Magosi have reinstated the then suspended top official Lesego Tsholofelo in an embarrassing U-turn by the spy unit. Close sources reveal that the DIS decided to reinstate Tsholofelo, who holds the position of Director (Internal division within the DIS) fearing that the spy unit's dirty dealings and covert operations may be exposed during the court process. The matter which was registered at the Gaborone High Court has since been withdrawn and struck off the roll. Tsholofelo had dragged the intelligence agency and Magosi to court seeking reinstatement after serving a two-year suspension.
The matter emanates from one of the embarrassing leakages ever suffered by the unit where over 100 covert spies were exposed to the public through social media. In an explosive affidavit filed in court to lay grounds on why he should be reinstated back to work Tsholofelo accused Magosi of recklessness and disregard for procedure, which led to the leaks. Tsholofelo explained to the court that although he had been on suspension for two years for the leak of the confidential information, he had in fact warned Magosi against it.
He detailed how Magosi sometime in 2020, embarked on a routine re-organisational exercise and this one, in particular, involved transfers of agents. “A substantial number of the affected officers were from my division. After perusing the list, I decided to propose some suggestions to the second respondent (Magosi) regarding the transfers. Assisted by a certain senior intelligence officer and an assistant intelligence officer, I wrote a Savingram evenly dated to the second respondent in which I made certain suggestions and recommendations,” Tsholofelo shared.
According to the top DIS official, the suggestion he made to Magosi was that the practice within the DIS of transferring officers is to address them individually rather than to dispatch a list of officers as this could compromise their information. “The rationale behind this practice is to minimise the risk of leakage of information relating to transfers, which would invariably contain identities of the officers,” Tsholofelo warned Magosi.
He further claims to have explained to his DG that in the event of a leak, it would be easy to trace the original correspondence. Going against his advice, the officer claims Magosi insisted that he prefers that the information be distributed by way of a comprehensive list. "And so he dispatched the communication of the list of over 100 DIS agents on transfer, some of whom were transferred to different government entities," Tsholofelo says.
He said his worst fears were soon turned into reality, a few weeks later when the very same list was leaked to the public. Two weeks after the leak, Tsholofelo was slapped with a suspension letter by Magosi, in the letter seen by Mmegi. Magosi says what Tsholofelo had done was “a serious breach of national security and has far-reaching implications on the directorate as a whole”. "It appears that the second respondent had formed the opinion that I was the source of the leak. I vehemently refuse this assertion,” the DIS officer further tells the court.
Reached for comment on the matter now that the DIS has caved in and reinstated the man, the DIS spokesperson Robert Edward said “those are internal matters that the directorate cannot discuss with the media”.