DIS in disarray
Sharon Mathala | Monday July 3, 2023 06:00
When it was formed back In 2008 following the passing of the Intelligence and Security Services Act 2008, the DIS was to oversee matters of the counterintelligence and internal security of the country.
Overtime, the public court declared the DIS, then under the stewardship of Isaac Kgosi, as public enemy number one. Opposition political leaders accused the organisation of sabotage and interference in key appointments within government at the time.
Now, it is the spies themselves that are in disarray. Following the axing of Kgosi and the appointment of Peter Magosi as the substantive DIS Director General, there was renewed hope for the organisation.But now, most officers believe the grass is not always greener on the other side.
Ex-police, government security officers, Vs ex-soldiers
According to sources, there are three main factions within the spy directorate. In the new set up, there is a faction of former police officers and government security officers. The other faction is characterised by ex-soldiers whilst the new crop occupies is the third faction.
According to our source, ex police officers and government security, now DIS officers feel left out.
“The DIS has departments within it. When Magosi got in he transferred critical officers because he believed they were Kgosi loyalists. Officers from the registry and vetting department were transferred and all those positions were filled with his loyalist, most of whom are former BDF soldiers,” the source said.
The source also said for a department like the vetting one, it is crucial that officers possess investigative skills. This is critical because the officers should possess the necessary skill to be able to gather and protect intelligence, explained the source.
The state that there are three investigation teams within the DIS. There is one in Sebele, the othe in Block 3 called the grey house and yet another one around the main mall area.
Turning to the team in Sebele, which has been making high profile arrests, the source argued that the team has been allegedly abusing powers and made a lot of blunders.
“The person leading those investigation was initially introduced as director of legal affairs. Why she is now involved on the field investigations, we don’t know. But they continuously make so many errors because the team simply does not have proper investigative skills,” the source alleged.
He further shared that on many occasions other law enforcement institutions refused to be involved in the Sebele team’s blunders. “On many occasions they arrested and detained people without the knowledge of the police. They would then come around and ask the police to rectify their alleged wrongs,” the source said.
“What the DIS is supposed to do is to gather information and pass it on to the relevant office, only on rare and extreme occasions would you find the DIS actively making arrest. There are so many cases and arrests whose intelligence was provided by the DIS, but you would never see the DIS at the scene,” he claims.
On other matters, the source said most of the skilled personnel have been transferred to provide security for certain Ministers, certain judges, DCEC’s second in command Priscilla Israel and the Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP) Emma Peloetletse.
“Security by the DIS should be provided for in extreme cases. But what we see now is an anomaly. How can an investigator, who has little experience with protection be transferred from what they are skilled in to guard a Minister?” the source wondered. There source stated that there is little or no threat to those that have been provided security and the protection is only depleting the already limited DIS resources.
“Some of them use this protection to run their private affairs,” the source alleges.
Masisi recalls protection
The source said the DIS recently changed President Masisi’s security for no good reason and they were allegedly replaced with the ‘new crop.’
“After a few weeks the President instructed that his old protection be returned. HE was not happy with the new crop as they allegedly lacked the requisite discipline that others had. They were only removed because the leadership wanted to replace them with their loyalists but that is no way how to run a government institution only on feelings. The President’s security was at risk just because someone prefers his own team over others” he further alleged.
Wastage within the DIS
The source also alleged that there is a lot of wastage within the organisation.
“For the past three years, the DIS vehicles that have been involved in accidents are many. The cars have piled up. And these accidents were caused by the ‘new crop’. There is simply no discipline anymore.,” he said.
Our source further alleged that last year a team went to Tanzania allegedly on a benchmarking exercise for structures. He said up to now, although a lot of money was spent on the exercise, nothing has been done, there has been no report or implementation.
The source warns that there will be mass resignations from the disgruntled officers. The source fears if the divisions within the DIS are not quickly addressed the country’s national security is at risk.
“The leadership is concerned with other things which we see as mostly political. They have neglected the very core of the DIS which is intelligence gathering,” the source added.
The source further said the DIS public relations officer did not tell the nation the truth on his press release two weeks ago to the effect that issues pertaining to employees welfare were being attended to. On the contrary, there are officers within the DIS who are still on the C4 band, a band they occupied since they were hired.
" Some officers were hired on C4 scale and they still hold the band. These officers were recruited then with the impression that after two years, as is the law they would move up a notch but they remain stagnant because they are believed to belong to the Kgosi era. Members who were hired during the Magosi era earn a lot more than them," he further alleged.
Section 9 of DIS Act gives the Directorate the responsibility to provide personal protection to VIPs, including the Head of state. It is a responsibility the Directorate takes seriously. In discharging this mandate, the Directorate deploys the best that is at its disposal in terms of both resources and tactics. All these are periodically subjected to a process of review, hence the change in terms of both tactics and deployment that may be observed from time to time The DIS has a robust recruitment process that gives the organization the best that is available in terms of human resources. They define us as an organization and they will always be prioritized in every decision. However, we admit that given the calibre of staff we have and the enormity of the tasks they do, we can never reward our staff enough hence the commitment by management to always look at ways to improve the welfare of the staff.
In his response, DIS spokesperson, Edward Robert said: "This is privileged information. However, it has to be noted that while it is not possible for any organisation doing what the DIS is doing to achieve zero accident rate, the DIS is doing everything possible to secure all the resources at its disposal, including vehicles. That's public property and we are taking good care of it and they are deployed responsibly."
He said that every accident is followed by an investigation and if the investigation points to negligence on the part of the driver, action is taken just as is the case in other government entities.
On other questions, his explanation was that they bordered on operational matters hence his inability to respond to it.
"However, note that in all its operations, the DIS is guided by its commitment to professionalism. Due to security considerations, my office is not in a position to state who, except the office bearers specified in the Act who include the President, Vice President and former presidents, is provided with personal protection. However, one has to note that provision of protection to senior government and visiting officials is permitted by the DIS Act," he concluded. 6. This is privileged information. DIS operatives are professionals. They know what is expected of them and they always give their best in their operations. However, differences are to be expected among staff in any environment. I cannot rule out the possibility of some of our staff members disagreeing on this aspect of operation or that. However, we are happy that their commitment to professionalism will always prevail over their differences.