Is DIS partly to blame for Tholwana Borethe?

Owen Nsala | Wednesday August 2, 2017 16:54

It appeared most of the editorial houses had the big fish in their possession. Tholwana Borethe came as something of a diamond, a treasure of sorts and an editorial must have. Need I introduce Tholwana Borethe? I doubt.

Well after the Bobonong debacle where the Botswana Movement for Democracy and by extension the Umbrella For Democratic Change came back with battered egos and soiled political reputations, newspapers sought to quell off frustrations of many by publishing what would go down memory lane as one of the worst own goals by our local publishers. A document, which now with hindsight we gather is fraudulent, was passed, clearly with design and terrible intention, to the media houses to spread untruths about the DIS and its involvement in the divisions within opposition political parties. This column therefore seeks to see whether there was a glaring act of irresponsibility from the media and whether the DIS must similarly take blame for having its name being so soiled.

The Intelligence Office under the stewardship of Isaac Kgosi is duly established by Parliament and finds its legitimacy from an Act of Parliament. It has however had a terrible reception by a lot of people and has made headlines in most cases for the wrong reasons.

The DIS has never really had a happy day in the maternity ward and the process of its birth was fraught with controversy and met with a furore of resistance from both the opposition party ranks and the civil society. Writing on the inception of the DIS Lesego Tsholofelo writes that “The move was met with uncertainty and controversy which saw opposition Members of Parliament walk out of Parliament at the height of the Bill’s debate. Such cold reception and the subsequent negative publicity have dogged the agency ever since”. No doubt, Tholwana Borethe is one such negative publicity.

The fact that the Intelligence Unit has never been a likeable child however does not give licence to spread untruths about it for there are ramifications which may befall such untruths. According to one newspaper article the Tholwana Borethe document not only soils the institution but also those mentioned and involved, chief amongst them one  prominent advocate who is accused of being a mastermind behind the fall of Ndaba Gaolathe and having been so used by the intelligence community to bring down the Botswana Movement for Democracy.

It paints the advocate in terrible light and Lord knows what could have occurred to him had some random hot head decided to sacrifice himself for the struggle. The report had the capacity to put lives into threat as there exists a possibility that a reader, a gullible and excitable one, could have consumed the news and accepted Tholwana Borethe as gospel truth. Who knows, one cannot exclude the possibility of a civil war being born from such falsified documents. The media must therefore be careful and very slow to publish a document whose source is suspect and the veracity of which has never found test.

Whereas the media must share the blame for the reckless report, the DIS must similarly share the blame on account of non activity when faced with wrong media accusations and libels. The Intelligence office has for long taken a stand to distance itself by means of silence from such accusations and despite there being written warnings against the NO COMMENT stance by the Intelligence office.

In his paper entitled, A Critical evaluation of Intelligence oversight regime in Botswana, Lesego Tsholofelo writes “while the media could be blamed for the nature of reportage that Molomo alludes to above, the Directorate certainly shares the blame as well.

Owing to an overly secretive culture under the guise of national security at times, the agency has allowed its image to be defined by sensationalist reporting in the media based on the dearth of factual information at the reporters’ disposal. In the relatively short period of five years of its existence, a negative perception has come to define everything about the DISS.

It would seem that the DISS hopes such coverage would just fade away”. He continues to say  “a cursory 'no comment' on all that involves intelligence and security will lead to speculative and at times exaggerated reporting on the part of the media”.

To this end, and on account of the advise formulated on behalf of the Intelligence Office in Botswana, and seeing the evil that may come with failure to positively rebut the accusations thrown towards members of the intelligence community it remains vital that the Directorate of Intelligence must take the Tholwana Borethe document as an opportunity to put its name in good stead and place within the country.

It is an opportunity for them to not only rebut, but proceed further to bring the culprit to book for the Tholwana Borethe document could have been a reason to cause bloodshed and civil unrest. At the same time the media houses must think twice in the future before sharing such a document. It was not funny at all if it was meant to be a joke.