Magosi, DIS top brass slapped with contempt charges
Sharon Mathala | Thursday February 12, 2026 13:24
The officers, Pulane Kgoadi, Kuda Malikongwa, Paul Setlhabi, Sebuweng Mukani, and Mpho Molokwane, on Friday filed papers at the Lobatse High Court seeking to have Magosi and 15 of his deputies charged with contempt of Justice Boipuso Makhwe’s December 2024 judgment.
In that ruling, Justice Makhwe found that the Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP), Emma Peloetletse, had acted unlawfully by ordering investigations into DIS employees. The court held that under the Intelligence and Security Service Act (ISSA), only the DIS Director-General or the President, in cases of conflict, has the authority to institute such probes.
“The ISSA does not include the Permanent Secretary as a person having authority over DIS staff. The authority is solely for the Director-General, who reports to the President,” Justice Makhwe said in her judgment.
Despite the ruling, the five officers who were suspended from duty in March 2024, amidst investigations linked to alleged corruption at Air Botswana, were summoned for disciplinary proceedings in October 2025.
The DIS warned the officers that failure to attend the hearing could result in proceedings continuing in their absence.
The officers say that during the disciplinary meeting, they were slapped with new charges, which they objected to. Their objections were turned down.
“The proceedings convened on the 25th of October 2025 were conducted in breach of this court’s order of the 13 December 2024, thus contemptuous. Additionally, the respondent’s adamant progression with the proceedings despite the applicant’s objecting to same pursuant to the order of the 13th of December 2024 based on the reasons proffered by the wrong person is a demonstration that the board did not exercise their mind on the matter which is clear demonstration of their disrespect of and obstruction of this court’s authority,” they argue.