- DISS is reportedly creaming off top cops for itself
- Old DISS agents begrudge newbies’ preferential treatment
LETLHOGILE MPUANG
Botswana Police Services (BPS) and the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Service (DISS) are reportedly at loggerheads over secondment of top police officers to the secret service, The Botswana Gazette has established.
DISS has reportedly recruited a number of top police officers on secondment to lead investigations in numerous high profile cases, including those involving former president Ian Khama and former chief spy Issac Kgosi. The Gazette is informed that the decision for DISS to bring them on board was mainly influenced by divisions within the secret service that impeccable sources say are “extremely dangerous.”
The lead investigator and prosecutor in a Khama case against DISS is Jett Mafuta, who is among several officers recently seconded from BPS.
But the secondment of officers from BPS to DISS with the top brass of BPS and a section of DISS. “They have taken most of the top investigators and this has created some challenges for the police,” said a source in the intelligence community.
“Some of these officers had cases they were dedicated to that they left incomplete. Their arrival at DISS has also caused more problems between Magosi and some of his agents. The seconded officers are believed to be treated a lot better and are given unlimited support in their cases.”
The source added that it is not clear if some of the officers left for the DISS with the approval of the Commissioner of Police, Keabetswe Makgophe. If not, the source noted, it could create more problems between BPS and DISS.
Magosi did not answer his phone at the time of going to press while at BPS Dipheko Motube had not answered Gazette questions.
It is not the first time that the secret service has reportedly clashed with other law enforcement agencies over secondment of officers. DISS was involved in a similar squabble with the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crimes (DCEC) over senior investigator Jako Hubona’s secondment to it for the Butterfly case in 2019. Former Director General of DCEC, Joseph Mathambo, told the media at the time that Hubona had left for DISS without his blessing.
Hubona was the lead investigator in the high stakes Butterfly case that involved powerful personages.