The three agents, legal director, Pulane Kgoadi, principal intelligence officer, Paul Setlhabi and legal deputy director, Kuda Malikongwa, who allegedly held a significant influence within the Directorate, said under the command of Magosi they have endured torture and the security has unleashed its full wrath on them.
In an urgent interim interdict application filed by the agents against Attorney General, the Commissioner of Police, and Magosi, they seek among others protection against repeated abuse and infringement of their rights. "Under the command of Magosi, the DIS has unleashed its full wrath upon us.
We have been subjected to gross violation of our rights including arbitrary arrests and detentions without charge by agents of the DIS and the Botswana Police acting under instruction and influence of the Directorate through the Director General,” said the agents. According to a founding affidavit deposed to by Kgoadi, who is the top legal director of the DIS, reveal that the agents’ families have been subjected to searches of vehicles, homes and persons without warrants. Kgoadi explained that the same mistreatment has been extended to their relatives, specifically Malikongwa’s mother who has been subjected to invasive search of her vehicle and even handbags by a team of the Botswana Police and the DIS personnel without any allegation being made against her. “We have been subjected to unduly long hours of interrogation against clear medical certificates certifying our unfitness for duty. When detained we have been denied access to lawyers and to family. Detention has been used as a form of torture to force us to comply with orders of the Directorate, Magosi and the Commissioner where we have differed with them,” she said.
The agents, who are now seeking protection of the court, revealed the details of why they had to make an interdict application against the defendants saying the matter regards their liberty. She also stated that they live perpetually under arrests and detentions, threats of arrests and detentions, calls to the Directorate offices at off hours without notice enforced by force, disregard of their medical conditions, amongst others. “The arrests and detentions are invariably without charge and invariably result in no charge and are invariably without warrant. This matter is therefore, inherently urgent.
Our protection is not only necessary but urgent,” Kgoadi said. The legal director explained that the disregard of their medical conditions endangers their health and can lead to permanent harm or death and that harassment is, further, torture on their families in particular their children who must continually live with the facts of the invasion of their homes. According to the agents, their children are traumatised and emphasised that since the events took place more than a month ago, they live in constant fear of arbitrary actions of the Directorate or the Botswana Police against them and their families.
They said they have had their residences surrounded by officers of the law enforcement agencies purely to intimidate them and their families, which include minor children and innocent civilians. “Already they have been to my residence twice and would embark upon static surveillance. This is a situation where they park their vehicles outside an individual's yard just to harass and intimidate them. This is done any day and at any time since our initial arrests,” revealed Kgoadi. The DIS Director General has gone out of his way using state resources to attempt to intimidate them under the pretext of conducting administrative actions whilst in actual fact and as they have already alluded, the real reasons are best known to them and will be divulged should Magosi deny that same exist. Kgoadi stated that equally important to note is that other officers who their
