DIS fires second in command
Sharon Mathala | Monday February 27, 2023 06:00


The deputy DG's dismissal letter was signed by an acting DG, one Tlamelo Ngakane whilst the DG, Peter Magosi is away.
According to the dismissal letter, 'The board has concluded its enquiries and the Permanent Secretary to the President has forwaded their report to the Directorate for action.
It is the conclusion of the board that on balance of probabilities , the allegations and charge against you have been proven and they find you guilty as charged. Furthermore, due to the gravity of the offence the board has recommended that you be dismissed from service of the directorate.'
Mmegi is also reliably informed that Badubi will soon approach the courts in an effort to seek redress for his unlawfull dismissal. According to a source, Badubi feels, “For a government employee of his level he is not supposed to be fired by his junior or even Magosi himself.
At the level where he is and according to the DIS Act he can only be fired by the President who then directs the PSP to do so on his behalf. His dismissal letter is signed by an acting DG , who is in fact his junior. That is not lawful''.
Badubi’s woes began in 2021 when he and three others were accused of leaking President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s security vehicles. The details of that were splashed all over social media and exposed to the public.
The security breach involves leakage of classified information regarding the President’s armoured vehicles even before they arrived in the country. In the matter, the DIS had decided to purchase the vehicles after it received intelligence threats to the First Citizen’s life in an operation led by the Deputy DG Operations, Badubi.
The background of the matter is that sometime in January 2021, Badubi received a video clip from one Henrico Van Wyk from South Africa via WhatsApp on the progress of shipment of the President’s vehicles.
The video, Badubi says he only forwarded only to his boss, Magosi. Detailing what happened, Badubi states, “...in accordance with practice to constantly brief and update the director general on the project, I appropriately sent the same video clip to the complainant (Magosi) on January 18, 2021, at around 10:03am via WhatsApp using my official cellphone,” Badubi stated.
To his surprise, Magosi’s second in command further states that sometime in February 2021, he was called by his senior and was suspended for leaking the video to Kgosi and social media.
“I wish to state that on 10th February 2021 the DIS director General, Brigadier (Rtd) Magosi called me to his office and informed me that after meeting his Excellency the President Masisi regarding leaked classified information, he took the decision to suspend me from office on suspicion that I have leaked a video clip on the newly procured VVIP vehicles,” he said.
He continues: “ I wish to state further that this was the first time I heard of leaked information on VVIP vehicles and it was coming from the Director General. I had no idea of any leakage and I did not understand the allegations, which Director-General levelled against me.” Following that, an investigation against Badubi and three others ensued, Mmegi can further reveal that the investigating officer in the President’s armoured vehicles leak was Dr Oduetse Koboto. Koboto had mentioned that his mandate was to conduct a general enquiry on leaked sensitive information to come up with recommendations for the DIS to prevent such incidents in the future.
The DIS however, found Badubi guilty and recommended his dismissal from work to the Office of the Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP).
Reached for comment, PSP Emma Peloetletse told Mmegi that whilst she acknowledges that she indeed received the matter at her office she is constrained to share any further details.
Asked if she is the one who authorised and signed off the DIS second in command’s dismissal letter, the PSP said, “As I have said to you before yes we that matter but to share to what we have done, how far we have gone I am not allowed to do that. I am constrained to do so.”