�DIS tortured us�
Innocent Selatlhwa | Friday May 19, 2017 18:00
The duo's experiences concidentally happened during a drug-related search.
The duo arrived at the Mmegi office in Gaborone Tuesday morning with what they said were ‘torture scars’ allegedly at the hands of the security agents.
They said that not only were they tortured, but their lives, and so of those of their families, were also threatened. DIS has on many occasions denied accusations of torture on their subjects during investigations.
However, the two cousins’ individual accounts of their alleged torment at the hands of the intelligence agents is a far departure from the agency’s constant denials.
First to narrate his story was Mogapi, who showed fresh wounds on his wrists, which he claimed were a result of being dragged on the pavement by the agents as they searched through the car he was driving on loan from Chawilani.
Chawilani said he had lent Mogapi his Corolla last Friday as he (Mogapi) needed to deejay at a party in Rustenburg, South Africa.
“They questioned him a lot when he arrived at the border about his trip, and he told them he would be back the following day. They then waited for him and destroyed my car searching for drugs,” Chawilani said of his cousin’s ordeal.
Mogapi said he had declared his sachet of dagga before the DIS officials tore through the car upon his return from Rustenburg, but the agents would not hear of it and searched the car anyway.
“They brought sniffer dogs and then started disassembling the car and leaving it wrecked after they discovered a few seeds from the backseat. While at it, they assaulted and dragged me leading to injuries on my wrists,” he said.
Chawilani alleged that he had a similar experience last August when the DIS agents tortured him, as they interrogated him on why his Amarok van was found to be concealing drugs in its compartments.
He claimed the drugs belonged to his brother whom he had lent his car a week earlier. He claimed he was tortured and threatened to be killed before the agents confiscated his Amarok van. He said that now they are dragging their feet to take the matter to Court and hence compromising his freedom.
Chawilani said in a cell he was locked in, he kept hearing screams of pain he suspected were from his brother in one of the torture chambers. “After some hours, I was taken to a conference room where there were 13 men and six women who accused me of sending my brother to buy and sell drugs using my vehicle.
I was then tortured and beaten up by the men while the women kept demanding that I tell the truth about my whole family selling drugs.
The pain was so unbearable that I even broke the cable tie they had used on my hands and legs,” he said. “They then used a cloth to tie my hands behind my back and also my feet.
I was then beaten with a thick cable tie until it broke. At some point, they took off my pants and put a taser between my buttocks to send shocks through me.
This went on for about an hour,” he said, revealing the scars on his belly and hands and stating that they were a result of the assault by the agents.
He said he was saved by the arrival of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers. He said upon being told that the CID officers had arrived, the agents stopped beating him up and hid the tasers and cables in their bags and instructing him to pretend that the ordeal never occurred.
Chawilani said he later joined his brother and the other people they were arrested with, only to realise that the brother received the worse beatings and was in more pain.
“They then took us to Central Police Station for fingerprinting. When we got there, my brother left us and went to Extension II Clinic for medical attention. Upon realising that the police officers allowed him to see a doctor, the agents got angry with them, saying it would incriminate them,” he said.
Contacted for a comment, Kgosi laughed off the claims by Chawilani. He said he would not discuss the matter, lest it be used against him in Court and that he would not want their investigations jeopardised. He also said he could not discuss the matter as the DIS never discusses anything with the media.
But a couple of years ago, after a local newspaper published a story alleging that the DIS was using a certain building just outside Kopong village as a torture chamber, the directorate vehemently denied the reports to an extent of taking the media on a tour of their facilities.
Kgosi has been quoted a number of times in the media categorically stating that they never tortured their subjects, as it is against the law.