Beans ‘spilt’ on Masisi, cronies
Ryder Gabathuse | Monday July 7, 2025 06:33
It all began ahead of the 2019 General Election when past immediate State president Mokgweetsi Masisi promised to ‘spill the beans’ on his former principal Ian Khama at a rally launching former vice president Slumber Tsogwane and other parliamentary candidates in Rakops.
Masisi’s promise left BDP enthusiasts in tenterhooks, literally asking for some more. The nation’s immediate suspense went on until the alleged P100 billion-theft case that implicated the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) spy agent; Wilhelmina ‘Butterfly’ Maswabi was mentioned for the first time alongside other prominent persons in the names of ambassador Bridgette Motsepe, former president Ian Khama, former intelligence chief, the late Isaac Kgosi and others. The documents for this case were widely distributed in 2019 elections year. The gist of this case was that Motsepe, Khama and Kgosi were implicated to have allegedly spread the ‘loot’ across banks in South Africa and across the world. Politically, Khama had influenced the formation of BDP splinter party that he claimed would help unseat the BDP from power then. This must have unsettled BDP head honchos.
It also prompted the DIS and the DCEC investigators to travel the world in pursuit of the alleged stolen loot with accusations that the money was sitting somewhere in South Africa. Motsepe was allegedly connected on allegations that she had influenced the distribution of the alleged money across banks in SA. Even with her (Motsepe’s) insistence calling upon the Botswana government to retract its claims, the government played dumb.
At some stage, when the current Ombudsman, Advocate Stephen Tiroyakgosi, was the director of the DPP, enlisted the services of Afriforum to find answers to questions on the ‘Butterfly’ case. Afriforum is a South African civil rights organisation focused on advocating for the rights of minorities, particularly Afrikaners.
Interestingly, Bank of Botswana would pour water on the allegations insisting there was no such a case, to the best of its knowledge. They didn’t have such amounts missing from their custody. The State couldn’t relent as the matter went ahead anyway; against reality that it was more of fiction than reality.
This political story that the matter had now become, seems to have now finally come to a bitter end after failing the test of time, with the State purely left with eggs on its face.
The proverbial beans have instead been spilt on Masisi and his cronies as the State has been compelled to apologise to amongst others ambassador Motsepe, who had filed a P20 million suit against the State. Motsepe is also the president of the South African mining development association, which makes her a prominent figure. The government through the DIS, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) should have done a better job. At some stage there were turf battles between the DIS and the DCEC when Magosi ‘poached’ DCEC investigator Jako Hubona, albeit temporarily, to work on the ‘Butterfly’ matter, until he deposed to a now offending affidavit that incriminated Motsepe amongst others.
On the first day at a political rally in Rakops, Masisi had screeched in the vernacular:“Ga ke rata nka phantsha! (I may spill the beans) to a deafening ovation from the partisan crowd at a rally launching his trusted ally and former vice president, Tsogwane. This would become a song he sang at almost every political rally or major events during Masisi’s one-term (five-year) presidency (2019-2024) to ensure those who cared to listen, heard him. There was something unusual that occurred at Rakops that cold weekend when parliamentary and council candidates had to declare their allegiance to Masisi before he anointed them as party candidates for the 2019 polls. It was apparent that the Khama factor gave the BDP torrid time, as he (Masisi) wasn’t certain who was with him or with Khama at the time. Certainly, political careers of some Khama allies were affected by the new development due to trust issues.
Masisi energetically pursued the ‘Butterfly’ case oblivious to him that he was simply sold a dummy by his handlers.
Paranoia had gripped the BDP camp with Masisi having problems naively trusting some of his operatives.
In the days and months during his presidency, Masisi continued threatening to spill the beans as his relationship with his predecessor, Khama bitterly soured as the duo fell out. Their differences morphed into a no talking relationship. The enmity between the former allies spread like veld fire.
Matters came to a head when Khama, former State and BDP president frustratingly exited the ruling party at the time and began de-campaigning the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) through his freshly formed Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) which uprooted his former party from GammaNgwato in the 2019 General Election, in an area where Kham is popular as the tribe’s paramount chief. He would then make a good number of assists in a number of areas within the Bangwato territory.
The Khama/Masisi matter culminated into an incessant cat-and-mouse affair that saw former police commissioner Keabetswe Makgophe and his former deputy Bruno Paledi charged for aiding and abetting unlawful possession of firearms. The duo is considered Khama loyalists and their charges would be later dropped, as there was no case against them after all.
The late Kgosi, who was another Khama’s blue-eyed boy, fell a prime target of the DIS through regular arrests. But, there was one arrest when he returned from a hospital facility in Malaysia when he was arrested in full view of hordes of newshounds at the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport. The whole affair was well choreographed and possibly made the intended impact. Kgosi professed his innocence but was sent from a police holding cell to another.
Former president of Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) Biggie Butale returning from a road trip in South Africa was arrested at a border in Ramotswa on allegations that he was carrying huge amounts of cash, a charge that was never proven to date. He was on the radar of the DIS just because he was a close confidante of Khama.
The key victim in the whole trumped up criminal charges ‘Butterfly’ was seemingly used as ‘bait’ to go for the main targets in the whole saga. Meantime, Khama, Kgosi and others were thoroughly searched for ‘evidence’ the government couldn’t salvage.
At some stage a competent court of law declared that charges of financial terrorism against ‘Butterfly’ were actually “fabricated”.
She would later be discharged and acquitted on all counts. The country’s prosecuting agency, DPP, the case’s lead investigator at the DCEC, Hubona and Priscilla Israel (deputy director general-operations) were cited for removal from the agency and disciplinary action by the court.
It’s apparent that Botswana also suffered humiliation and irreparable harm from the Butterfly prosecution. “The State has committed a criminal act as the allegations are fabricated and outright false,” Justice Dr Zein Kebonang had ruled.
Khama was next on the hit list of the DIS as he was also charged for his alleged unlawful possession of firearms, which was an extension of the P100 billion accusation. Fearing the brutality of the Peter Magosi-led DIS, Khama ran for his dear life to South Africa on a self-imposed exile, where his family members who also had tasted the brutality of the intelligence community followed him.
The Masisi regime took action against Khama perhaps, on the basis of available ‘intelligence’ that the former president was removed as a patron from a good number of State and non-government organisations. The Khama image was battered and treated like a real criminal.
Dumezweni Mthimkhulu, the late former minister of Environment and Tourism, irritated by Khama’s alleged de-campaigning of the country’s tourism industry in the United Kingdom, appealed to the UK government to arrest Khama when he lands at the Heathrow airport because he was speaking bad about Botswana. The former minister was addressing a Botswana delegation to the UK at the country’s high commissioner in London. This was at the height of the country’s campaign against the UK government’s imposing a ban on importing hunting trophies from the UK and other European countries.
Khama also faced allegations of illegal possession of weapons of war and the DIS chief had ordered him to surrender himself at the DIS Sebele office before he fled the country.
The implications of the ‘Butterfly’ case were far-reaching as the corruption-busting agency; the DCEC was not spared, as there was commotion in its leadership. First, its former director general Bruno Paledi was transferred out as a deputy permanent secretary by the Masisi administration as he was believed to be a Khama man and also stood against the ‘Butterfly’ case as he strongly felt there was no evidence linking the accused persons to the matter. On the hit list was also Brigadier (retired) Joseph Mathambo who did not see any reason to prosecute the case. He would later be returned to the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) where he was seconded.
The Masisi administration would later bring Tymon Katlholo back from his retirement on contract to lead the DCEC until he fell out with the Masisi administration. He also stood against the prosecution of ‘Butterfly’ citing insufficient evidence to prosecute.
Global eyes are now on Botswana especially upon her security agencies with its creativity to ‘manufacture’ criminal charges against people they perceived to be enemies of the State. The DPP has also been dragged into the security mess especially after it made a promise before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that they might resuscitate the case.
From a public administration perspective, this is an embarrassing thing for the State to spend a public purse to pursue a fabricated case, asserts retired University of Botswana (UB) politics and administrative studies lecturer, Adam Mfundisi.
”The case was not necessarily a ‘Butterfly’ one but an indirect assault on Khama. The vitriolic attack on the former president was multi-pronged, using government propaganda through the mass media, instituting a political motivated investigation, and prosecution to malign Khama.”
To Mfundisi, ‘Butterfly’ was collateral damage in pursuance of Khama. “It would have been interesting if the BDP was still in power to see how their administrative and political machinery would have acted. The UDC inherited a corrupt public service that continues to embarrass it with limited strategy to transform it and get rid of some unethical public servants, particularly at the apex of the service,” he concluded.
As the government starts placing advertisements carrying the apology in chosen media houses internationally, Botswana might further take a beating from the international community. The country will have to work very hard in clearing its dented name at a time its diamonds; a single commodity that it depends upon is hurt by global economic challenges. Analysts feel strongly that Botswana has to reform her key institutions including security organs and align them especially to the new government with a human rights slant.
Botswana also has a challenge to prove to the world that foreign direct investors Boko administration is currently pursuing in an endeavour to rescue the country from the current economic doldrums will be safe and not subject to trumped up charges by the rulers. The proverbial beans have been spilt on the Masisi administration that charges against his nemesis and other institutions were simply trumped up.
“ ...The allegations also impugned others including Maswabi, Khama, Kgosi as well as a number of financial institutions and the South African Reserve Bank amongst others,” reads a recent court judgment against Botswana government.