The Commissioner of Police Thebeyame Tsimako and the Commander of Botswana Defence Force Lieutenant General Tebogo Masire have each served for half a decade at the helm of the country's key security institutions, a time during which they conducted themselves in a professional manner even during challenging and tempting periods.
After inheriting very secretive organisations, the two gentlemen set off to open up to the public they served, more especially to us in the press. We may have differed with them on many issues regarding our two parallel lines of work, but at the end of the day, we all acknowledged that we were doing our jobs in the best interest of the public.Said Tsimako in his inaugural press conference in July 2007: "The philosophy of a free, vibrant, informed and alert press is a necessary condition for the entrenchment of strong democratic policing principles. In an enlightened society like the one policed today, it is a foundation upon which the police base their relationship with the media."
