15 Mar 2022

Members of Parliament have heard that limiting of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS) operations will in no way be in the interests of the security of the nation, where law enforcement is currently overwhelmed in the performance of their respective mandates. 

Answering a parliamentary question on Monday, Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Kabo Morwaeng said law enforcement agencies complemented each other in the combat of crime and achievement of the common goal. 

Mr Morwaeng indicated that DISS operations were subject to the provisions of the Intelligence and Security Service Act Chapter 23:02, which had provided for the establishment of the DISS and defined its functions. 

Mr Morwaeng indicated that in terms of Section 5(1) of the aforesaid Act the function of the Directorate was, among other things, to investigate threats to national security as defined in terms of Section 2 of the Act. 

“In the exercise of its functions, that is to investigate, gather, coordinate, correlate, interpret intelligence, among others, the operations are protected in terms of the Intelligence and Security Service Act,” he said. 

He added that the Intelligence and Security Service Act further provided for structures such as the Tribunal which received complaints from a person aggrieved by an act or omission of an officer of the Directorate. 

“Inherently, with any organisation, particularly law enforcement agencies, complaints will be made including and not limited to claims of harassment. It is in the light of the above that I do not consider that any of the actions are tarnishing the image of Government because there is respect of the rule of law,” he said. 

Again, he told MPs that there had been two cases brought against the Directorate for harassment which had been successfully defended before the High Court as well as the Court of Appeal. 

He added that judgements in favour of the Directorate were a matter of public record and the Directorate like any other litigant continued to defend claims against it through the legal advice of the principal legal advisor of the Attorney General Chambers. 

He further indicated that functions of the Directorate were clearly spelt out in the Act, which included to protect the security interests of Botswana whether political, military or economic. 

Such, he said was done in collaboration with the National Intelligence Community, established by the Act and mandated to ensure interagency exchange of intelligence. 

“Noteworthy is that this community is made up of members of the law enforcement and other government departments. 

The role of the Botswana Police is set out in terms of the Police Act Chapter 21:01 and the functions clearly defined therein,” he said. 

However, he indicated that what was of paramount consideration was the need for agencies to cooperate in order to deal with the evolving trends of criminal activities that in no doubt threaten the security interests of Botswana. 

“Criminal syndicates have become more sophisticated and criminal activities becoming complex, be it crime of an economic nature, political or military nature and a joint effort must be encouraged to harness this within our society,” he said. 

Gaborone North MP, Mr Mpho Balopi had asked the minister to brief Parliament on the operations of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS) and whether he did not consider some of its actions to be tarnishing government image. 

Mr Balopi also wanted to know the number of court cases that had been brought against the DISS for wrongful arrests, harassment and unlawful undertakings and how many it had successfully defended. 

Again, the legislator wanted to know whether government did not consider limiting DISS operations to investigations and that other enforcement actions be left to institutions like the Botswana Police Service (BPS). BOPA