Last year former Director General, Peter Magosi, admitted during a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing that the organisation deliberately recruits thieves to complement its covert operations. The government's position re-emerged on Wednesday at the Ntlo Ya Dikgosi when one member asked the Minister for State President, Defence and Security to explain the rationale for hiring criminals. Bangwato Kgosikgolo, Ian Khama, had demanded answers over the recruitment of individuals with criminal records into an intelligence agency entrusted which is with protecting the country's national security interests.
However, rather than subjecting the agency's recruitment procedures to independent scrutiny, government maintained that it is satisfied with the existing vetting arrangements and had not identified any deficiencies warranting an external investigation. In a response, the Minister of International Relations, Phenyo Butale confirmed that individuals with criminal convictions are not automatically barred from joining the country's intelligence establishment. Butale maintained that the sensitive and unconventional nature of intelligence operations require recruitment considerations that differ from those applicable to ordinary public service institutions. "Government has not considered commissioning an independent review of the Directorate’s recruitment and vetting practices," Butale said on behalf of the Minister for State President, Defence and Security, "This is because we are not aware of inefficiencies in the existing policies to warrant such." The response effectively put on hold calls for independent scrutiny of an agency whose recruitment practices have previously raised eyebrows following Magosi's disclosures last year. Khama had specifically sought clarification on the legal and administrative framework governing the employment of people with previous criminal convictions within the DIS. The former president also wanted to establish whether government had undertaken any review of the agency's recruitment and vetting procedures.
