The Isaac Kgosi Docket That is Too Hot to Handle

LAWRENCE SERETSE

On the 26th May,  the Directorate of Corruption and Economic Crimes (DCEC) boss, Rose Seretse, testified before the Parliamentary Accounts  Committee (PAC) that the investigations against the Director General of Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS) Isaac Kgosi have been completed and his docket had been handed over to the Directorate on Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Seretse, in her testimony confirmed that Investigations against the Kgosi are complete and the investigation docket into corruption allegations against him have handed over to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Seretse advised the PAC that the matter now lies with DPP. Testimony before the PAC is binding on those testifies before it.
Speaking to The Botswana Gazette this week the DPP Director Kabo Leinaneng contradicted Seretse’s statements from three weeks ago. He told this publication that the Kgosi docket was returned to the DCEC and is still with the DCEC as the investigations “were still ongoing”.
When pressed on the contradiction, Leinaeng informed this publicationthat the DCEC was still investigating the allegations of corruption against Kgosi due to their complexity. He added that the docket had not been sent back to the DPP since the DPP had requested additional investigations to be carried out in 2014 .  When this publication brought to his attention that his statement contradicts the testimony of the DCEC boss before parliament three weeks back, Leinaeng shied away from his original explanation and said that; “I am not in a position to say exactly where it is because by their very nature investigations would involve a back and forth between various institutions.”
The contradictory statements by the DPP and DCEC raise questions of whether the docket is still in existence as neither institution claims to be in possession of it.Seretse told PAC that the matter was completed and was with DPP although she refused to share the findings contained in the docket.
In 2012, the DCEC and the DISS were moved to fall under the Office of the President. Khama’s close association with Kgosi extends to their days in the BDF.
The Patriot on Sunday also reported that Seretse denied that there was political interference during investigations of cases which involve high profile subjects.
In June 2015, The Botswana Gazette intercepted email savingram in which Seretse was complaining that Kgosi’s agents were spying on and intimidating her deputy Eugene Wasetso who was part of the unit investigating Kgosi’s allegations on corruption.
In the story The Botswana Gazette revealed that on Gabz Fm Seretse had denied writing or publishing a savingram addressed to Kgosi, titled “Current Investigations Relating to Yourself and other DISS Officers.”
In the savingram, that this publication is in possession of, Seretse was appealing to Kgosi for the DISS’ surveillance on DCEC investigating officers to stop with immediate effect as it was effectively obstructing the corruption-busting agents from conducting their duties. According to the savingram, she told Kgosi that this was always going to be a difficult investigation.
“This Directorate is attempting to conduct a thorough and objective investigation with a view to resolving the allegations in a proper manner. This cannot happen if my staff are to be subjected to threats, intimidation and ongoing surveillance.”
The savingram also reveals how the DISS Director General threatened the DCEC assistant Director, Eugene Wasetso, who was one of the officers investigating allegations of corruption against Kgosi.In the radio interview Seretse was also quizzed on the independence of the DCEC, and she said that she was confident that the DCEC was independent enough to perform its duties without interference from the Office of the President, which she reports to. The DISS also reports directly to President Ian Khama, but while Seretse is the President’s cousin by marriage, Kgosi’s personal and professional relationship with Khama predates their days in the army.
The kid’s glove handling of the investigations on Kgosi by the DCEC has brought about scepticism about its autonomy. In a resolution by Botswana Editors Forum (BEF) at a meeting held in July 2014, at which DCEC Director General, representatives from the Office of the President such as Dr Jeff Ramsay and the Attorney General’s Chambers Nchunga Nchunga were present, BEF held a view that Seretse’s failure to recommend to the President the interdiction of Kgosi from office, pending the investigation would jeopardise the DCEC’s probe.
However, despite the BEF’s input Seretse has never made the recommendation, despite the threats from Kgosi, which she had documented in the savingram, though she distanced herself from it on radio.
It still remains unclear who is telling the truth between the DPP director and DCEC director about the whereabouts of the docket and whether is still does exist indeed. The only known official copy of the docket was filed at the High Court during the litigation between the Sunday Standard and the Attorney General.