DIS Oversight Body Mum On Torture Charges

By Tshireletso Motlogelwa
Staff Writer | Monday January 12, 2009 00:00

MP Mephato Reatile has told Monitor that although the allegations were carried in the media and were subsequently investigated by the police, the committee does not have any powers to act on the matter.

He said the committee could have taken up the issue only if someone had approached one of its members to report the matter and that because the case was reported to the police who carried out investigations, it is up to the police to pursue the matter further.

Asked whether the committee could not ask for the police report on the matter, Reatile said it is better to let the police carry on with the case.

MP Charles Tibone, who also sits on the committee, said he and his colleagues have not met to discuss any substantive matter since being convened in the last Parliament. 'You have to understand that we only meet when Parliament is on,' Tibone said.

'Right now we are not around. We will meet once again when Parliament reopens,'
Monitor could not reach other members of the committee. Chairman Moeng Pheto's phone was off air while MP Robert Molefhabangwe's line was not working.

Last Friday, former Commander of Central Police Station in Gaborone, Takongwa Mazwidumo, told Mmegi that a report on the case was submitted to the police leadership after investigations were completed.

However, Mazwidumo could not specify the person the report was handed to. According to the Intelligence and Security Act, the functions of the oversight committee include examining the expenditure, administration and policy of DISS.

Late last year, two soldiers and two policemen reported that they were severely beaten and humiliated in a torture chamber at the offices of DISS during investigations into a gun that had allegedly disappeared from the Gaborone West Police Station.