Spy agency boss denies snooping

GALE NGAKANE
Correspondent | Thursday August 26, 2010 00:00

The councillors said they heard allegations that the recent registration of cellphone simcards was done in order to spy on people of this country.

Kgosi had been called to brief councillors about the DIS mandate, but he said it was not possible for the spy agency to watch every individual.

'First of all, you have got to know that a person's attention span will not permit him or her to do so as it has got a limited duration. So, there is no way we can spy on every individual in Botswana,' he said.

On allegations that the agency was implicated in a number of extra-judicial killings, including the shooting of John Kalafatis, Kgosi dared anyone with concrete evidence to come forward and show him the evidence.

'I will duly resign my post and hand myself to the police for justice to take its course. The DIS has never been involved in the killing of anyone. Instead, we have been adhering to our mandate of making sure citizens of this country are safe and secure in their homes,' he said.

Kgosi also said it was not true that the High Court is inundated with citizen complaints of the DIS listening into their cellphones. Ben Mpotokwane was unhappy with the fact that DIS was spying on opposition leaders in order to plant incriminating evidence on them.

There was some discussion about the case in which an unnamed minister and his wife won a tender to supply the ministry over which the minister presided. Questions were also raised about the number of high profile people including ministers and Members of Parliament who were under investigation though no conclusive information came out of the discussions.

Kgosi said the work of the DIS is to safeguard the security of the country.

Kgosi said the DIS collects and analyses information and then advises the government on what to do.

He said the agency wants to keep the country in a state of preparedness against any element of surprise, which he added, was any country's worst enemy.

Zeroing on Francistown, Kgosi said the city was the epicentre of unscrupulous business dealings so the city is within the radar of DIS.

He said they have been able to flush out elements that were using the city to try and destabilise the governments of their countries of origin.

'Francistown is in a precarious location which is vulnerable to such incidences. You would have realised that we have borders with Zimbabwe and also we have a refugee camp not far from here,' he said without elaborating.

In response to a question on human trafficking, which is said to be prevalent in Botswana, Kgosi appealed to the councillors to try and come up with laws against such acts because presently there are none.

'Also, you will have to realise that our borders are so porous that people come and go as they like using these ungazetted points.