14 Mar 2022

The Botswana Police Service (BPS) has not recorded any case of brutality by members of the Botswana Police Service, Special Support Group (SSG) and Botswana Defence Force (BDF) ever since the commencement of the State of Emergency (SOE), to date. 

Defence, justice and security minister, Mr Kagiso Mmusi said this responding to a question in Parliament recently.

Mr Mmusi indicated that during operations to support the fight against COVID-19, law enforcement agencies received accolades of professional behaviour as it was seen in social media platforms. However, he said despite the accolades, there were cases where civilians complained of alleged ill-treatment by the disciplined forces. 

“The BPS has carried out investigations following allegations of assault against some members of both the BPS and BDF. 

The total number of such cases per constituency is 13. It has to be noted that we cannot segregate the cases by agencies since all were involved in support of police operations,” he said.

Minister Mmusi also indicated that law enforcement agencies followed prescribed professional ethics enshrined within their various applicable Acts and their standard operating procedures as well as rules of engagement. 

“This is evidenced by action taken against the accused officers as I have already alluded. Depending on the complexity of the matter, the turn-around time for investigating these matters is a minimum of two weeks,” he added.

Further, he said the BPS was not aware of any equipment used for torture and did not procure any such equipment during the SOE. He added that no cases of unauthorised use of equipment by any law enforcement officers had been recorded.

Palapye MP, Mr Onneetse Ramogapi had asked the minister to update Parliament on the number of reported cases or cases under investigation on brutality by law enforcement agencies against the public countrywide ever since the commencement of the state of emergency to date.

 Mr Ramogapi also wanted to know if there was action taken in the event that there were cases of brutality as well as the turnaround time to investigate and conclude the matter.

He also wanted to know if the police had bought any equipment for torture in order to extract information from suspects and what action was taken where a disciplined officer was found in possession or using unauthorised equipment during patrol such as a sjambok. Ends