Suspension orders are crippling – DIS agents
Mpho Mokwape | Monday May 27, 2024 06:00
The agents, Pulane Kgoadi, Paul Setlhabi and Kuda Malikongwa, who are fighting to interdict their boss, Peter Magosi from alleged constant arrests and detention, cry that the orders created are simply meant to ensnare them and justify arrests.
The agents decry that they 'have been warned' that should they 'in anyway fail to comply with any instruction in the letters of suspension' they 'will be detained'.
In an application made before the Lobatse High Court where they seek temporary interdict against Magosi and Commissioner of Police from arresting them, they stated that many of the orders in the suspension letters are unreasonable if not downright unlawful. According to Kgoadi’s founding affidavit, the DIS’ director in the legal department says, for example, she is not allowed to talk to any member of the Directorate even if that person is a personal friend. She explained that it has not been stated as to who the witnesses are that they should not speak to and that they also wonder how they can be instructed to not talk to literally all members of the Directorate, some of whom are their friends and relatives.
The agents in their application have also indicated that the complete disregard for their health can lead to permanent injury to health and may result in loss of life. Kgoadi indicated that on her last arrest and detention she was inadequately clothed and being asthmatic, she tried to draw the attention of the team to her condition all in vain. As a result she said she contracted flu, triggering or worsening her asthmatic condition. “The surrounding of our homes and arrests without charge is hurtful to the psychological and emotional well being of our children.
My infant child cries all the time after my arrest and I must take her through counselling to try and mitigate the harm. The psychological harm resulting from the harassment is also severe and injurious to our psychological and emotional wellbeing,” she said. Regarding Malikongwa, the deputy legal director, she said if the Directorate accessed her communication devices it will have access to details of her private life down to the very personal.
“That will include communication with friends, family, and persons across all forms of private relationships dating back many years,' she said. 'Not only will they access such information they will keep same as part of their records. These are areas protected by the Constitution. This will not only hurt her permanently as regards to her privacy but her dignity too,” she argued. Detailing their grievances, the agents said the threat of harassment through covert surveillance and static surveillance is perpetual and weighs upon them and their families psychologically.
“That our homes and movements are under surveillance all the time is taking a toll on us and our families,” they stated. In their application, Principal Intelligence Officer Setlhabi had revealed he had noticed he was under surveillance prior to his arrest and in fact confronted the team at Setlhoa in Gaborone who then admitted they wanted him at the office. It is alleged that he explained to them that he was on sick leave and that his suspension letter states he cannot go to the DIS offices without Magosi's written authority which they didn't have. The agent alleged that the officers left only to surround his house later in the evening, still without the written authority, which was more reason why he would not go with them as they were given suspension letters on April 24. “Since the suspension letters, we have been directed to attend at the offices of the directorate many times by Deputy Director-General Ishmael Basupi under threat of arrest if we defy, but at no occasion did we receive the written authorisations as stated in the suspension letters,” read the interdict application.
The trio explained that each time they have featured at the Directorate offices they have broken conditions of their suspension and are liable to be arrested and detained at the pleasure of Magosi. They said when they are at the Directorate’s offices upon being summoned there they cannot even greet their colleagues as they may be arrested. “We know we are under constant surveillance because we know members of the surveillance teams as colleagues, their vehicles and the tactics. “These are invasions of privacy as we have committed no crime and offer no threat to the state or to the public. There is no other remedy to deal with it but an interim interdict,” the agents stated.