STATE WANTS KGOSI JAILED

Kgosi’s lawyers are using his alleged ill heath as a bargaining chip to have their client’s bail conditions modified but the prosecution will have none of it and is instead pushing to have the former head of DISS jailed for violating them

TEFO PHEAGE

The former head of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Service (DISS), Isaac Kgosi, may find himself serving a jail term should Regional Magistrate South, Masilo Mathaka, agree with the state that Kgosi ought to be charged, prosecuted and jailed for violating his bail conditions.

Kgosi’s lawyers, Thabiso Tafila Attorneys, are fighting a highly charged war over Kgosi’s bail conditions after they made an application for variation of his bail condition. Kgosi was granted bail on 11 April 2019, having been arraigned before Mathaka on condition that he reports to Broadhurst Police Station once a month and that he attends to court whenever he is required to.
Kgosi disappeared to Malaysia last month where he is said to be undergoing treatment for a spinal condition. Speaking to this publication yesterday, Tafila said he had requested an amendment of Kgosi’s bail conditions owing to his ailing health but the state is opposing this and wants Kgosi jailed for breaching his bail conditions.

“We have applied for variation of his bail conditions but the state has vowed to oppose it,” Tafila said. “The state has not been cooperative in this matter, but we will hear what the court says.”

Kgosi is accused of taking photographs of two DISS officers between 18 and 21 February 2019 and the officers’ identity cards while they were in an operation and disclosed the photographs to Mmegi newspaper which subsequently published them on February 22. Kgosi is also accused of obstructing the officers in the execution of their duties on 18 February 2019 contrary to Section 23 of the Intelligence and Security Service Act.

Magistrate Mathaka, who had earlier turned down a request from the prosecution for Kgosi to surrender his passport, faces a mammoth task of declaring Kgosi a fugitive and issuing a warrant of arrest should the state succeed in its spirited campaign to bring justice to the former director of DISS. This was after the defence counsel said Kgosi would regularly avail himself to the police, a statement that Kgosi has now turned hollow.

On that day, Kgosi’s wish was granted when the magistrate said he been cooperative with the state, did not pose a flight risk and would regularly need his passport to travel for medical attention and supervision for his doctoral studies outside Botswana.

Kgosi tasted detention on 15 January this year following a covert DISS operation that led to his arrest at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport. His arrest widely acclaimed, though a section of society denounced it, saying it was calculated to bring maximum embarrassment to the former spy chief. It was the beginning of an antithesis in Kgosi’s life that has so far culminated in a P10 million tax bill being delivered to his wife last week.

Kgosi’s lawyers say he has instructed them to challenge the validity of the tax bill