DIS closes in on fake Tholwana Borethe author

Staff Writer | Friday December 1, 2017 18:00

 

DIS director general, Isaac Kgosi was however not forthcomng with a positive response when approached by Mmegi. 

Tholwana Borethe is a purported intelligence report that caused a stir among opposition circles in July this year which turned up to be fake.

It claimed to reveal a secret plot by the spy agency to disrupt the opposition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) from toppling the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in 2019 general elections.

After, Mmegi with the help of INK Centre for Investigative Journalism, exposed the report as fake, the DIS also stated that they have carried out an investigation and know the originator of the alleged intelligence report. T

hey also declared that the said report was bogus. This prompted the panic-stricken Botswana Congress Party (BCP) to formally launch a complaint with the Commissioner of the Police, Keabetswe Makgophe over alleged intelligence report. 

In a letter to Makgophe, the BCP president, Dumelang Saleshando stated: “The alleged intelligence report details how the DIS meddles in politics by illegally and wrongfully spying on opposition political parties in Botswana with a view to destabilising them to the advantage of the ruling party”.

Saleshando added that the architects of the said fake intelligence report be hunted down and be charged together with whoever may have published the fake report without just cause.

“It is imperative that this fashionable and emerging trend of manufacturing fake intelligence reports, rumour and false statements and causing them to be published in the newspapers should be nipped in the bud. Such bogus publications cause unnecessary fear and alarm.”

Mmegi has since learnt that the DIS has completed its investigations about the origins of the report. Sources close to the spy agency say it is a matter of time before the agency closes in on the bogus intelligence expert. 

“We know this fake guy and how he operates. We also know that he has duped some foreign embassies into believing that he is an intelligence security expert. We have been observing his movements,” one of the sources said.  Another source added that the Tholwana Borethe creator is the same man behind the ‘damning’ Asparagus exposés.