Thea Khama says the DIS has kept devices seized during her 2022 arrest for nearly four years, while intelligence chief Peter Magosi says they are ready for collection.
GAZETTE REPORTER
Nearly four years after her arrest and the confiscation of her electronic devices, Thea Khama says the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) has yet to return belongings it had promised to release within a week.
Khama confirmed in an interview with The Botswana Gazette that the intelligence agency still has electronic devices she surrendered during her arrest in March 2022.
The devices include her mobile phones, a laptop and a MacBook. Khama said she also surrendered passwords to the devices at the time.
SHOW OF POWER
Speaking to The Gazette this week, Khama said she no longer expects to recover the devices, arguing that the DIS’s continued possession of them amounts to little more than a show of power.
Khama said that each time she asked about her gadgets, she was told that investigations were still ongoing.
Khama was arrested alongside her husband, former cabinet minister and Serowe West MP Tshekedi Khama, and his twin brother Anthony Khama during a period of investigations involving members of the Khama family.
Although her electronic devices were seized during the operation, Khama says they have remained in DIS custody for years.
She said the prolonged retention of the gadgets had left her with little expectation that she would see them again.
TRIBUNAL CHALLENGE
The matter adds a new dimension to the controversy surrounding her 2022 arrest, which Khama subsequently challenged before the Tribunal on Intelligence and Security.
The Tribunal ultimately dismissed her complaint in 2024, including her challenge relating to the seizure of her property saying the seizure was for purposes of investigations.
DIS RESPONSE
Reached for comment on why Khama’s electronic devices had still not been returned and whether she is still under investigation, DIS Director General Peter Magosi responded: “She can go and collect them at the DIS offices. I had already directed that the belongings be released to her.”
Magosi said he would follow up to establish whether his directive had been implemented.
But Khama said nobody has ever called her at the DIS to come and collect the gadgets.