Rather, the Directorate is appealing the judgment that had ordered the payment of back pays. The appeal surfaced after the aggrieved employees decried the government's failure to comply with a court order for close to 10 months. This is after winning a case in which they had taken the employer to court for breach of contract (for refusal to pay them back pays dating as far back as 2001). Their main contention was that the employer had failed to pay them salary back pays despite the government having issued Directives and Savingrams to that effect. The employees had taken the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM), DIS, and Attorney General to court seeking salary back pays effective from April 2008.
However, the DIS is not willing to pay and has made a decision to appeal Justice Zein Kebonang of Gaborone High Court’s judgment of December 6, 2024 in which he declared that the decision to not pay the officers was unlawful. “The decision to not pay the officers back pays is unlawful in so far as the decision to pay is not back-dated to 2001 when Directive No.10 of 2001 came into force,” he said. Justice Kebonang also ordered that the decision not to pay the officers was contrary to Directive No. 6 of 2008 as read with the Savingram titled Implementation of the Court Of Appeal Judgment Pertaining to Directive and Savingrams on Multiple Tilting and Grading of C-Band Positions dated May 13, 2022. He stated that the decision not to pay officers was unlawful because they had legitimate expectation to receive back pays effective April 2008. “The decision not to pay the employees is contrary to the parity principle, thus unlawful,” Justice Kebonang said at the time. The spy agency responded to the employees’ grievances by filing an appeal with the Court of Appeal on grounds that the claim made by the employees was a dispute of fact and ought to have been supported by led evidence.
