Radijeng appointed DIS Tribunal Committee chair

Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday January 29, 2021 17:46

 

Radijeng appointed DIS Tribunal Committee chair

The tribunal Committee on Intelligence and Security has not been operating for a very long time, something which Members of Parliament were not happy about.  The appointment came after Justice Dr Zein Kebonang took a prolonged leave of absence in December last year, Kebonang then wrote a letter to the President informing him that he was stepping down from the position. 

The MPs’ concern was that Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) was not accounting to any committee except Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and therefore there was need for the Tribunal Committee to be there in order to hold it accountable.

Last year, some opposition MPs who were appointed to sit on the Committee declined nomination and requested the President to subject the DIS to a forensic audit and also to review the DIS Act to ensure that it complied with international best practices.

A letter dated January 27, 2020 by Permanent Secretary to the President Elias Magosi reads; “the appointment arises from the need to ensure that the tribunal is able to sit after it could not due to Justice Kebonang‘s prolonged leave of absence”.

 In terms of section 31 (3) of the Intelligence and Security Act, cap.23:02, His Excellence the President is enjoined to consult on appointments of members of the tribunal.  Meanwhile the leader of the opposition, Dumelang Saleshando said the DIS has from its inception been dogged by serious allegations of maladministration, corruption and operating slush funds with the blessings of the political leadership.

“The DIS Act was never intended to deliver an institution that is subjected to Parliamentary scrutiny and oversight. 

Once a committee of Parliament is appointed by the President and reports to the President, it cannot pass the basic test of an oversight committee.  The Act has created a monster that the nation fears and is a black hole that gobbles millions of Pula annually.  It is therefore of paramount importance that the Act is reviewed to allow the nation the services of professionally run and accountable ‘spy agency’,” he said in a correspondence to the President last year in October.