Following the arrest of Mmegi journalists for alleged leaking of a classified document, the Director General (DG) of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) admitted there is no way to avoid DIS information leaks.
DIS DG Peter Magosi appeared before the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday. He told the committee "leakages will always be there". “The media’s job is to inform, and we acknowledge that the media will always give us an opportunity to say our version, and once they do that, they put out a balanced story,” he said. Magosi admitted that not all leaks are detrimental to the nation. “They (leaks) come in for different purposes, some will be good, and some will be bad for national security. Leakages will always be there. I can promise you what happened with the Mmegi staff will never happen again,” Magosi said.
Magosi further confirmed that he met with the Mmegi journalists as well as media bodies over the weekend to discuss the matter. A joint statement from the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Botswana Chapter and the Botswana Editors Forum (BEF) released Saturday afternoon confirmed the meeting saying that the DIS admitted that the arrests of the journalists were "regrettable".
Yesterday a statement from the DIS stated that the security organ "appreciates the role of the media". “The directorate carried out investigations on reasonable suspicion that the persons in question (Mmegi journalist and Editor) had conducted themselves in contravention of the Intelligence and Security Services Act (2008). The directorate, however, regrets that in the process of its investigation, an impression was created that it seeks to interfere with the work of the journalists and does not appreciate the role of the media in a democracy,” DIS spokesperson Edward Robert said in the statement. Commenting on the worrying trend of disinformation on social media, Magosi admitted that his hands are tied.
