CoA brings sanity to DIS/DCEC long-standing feud

Mmegi Editor | Monday July 8, 2024 06:00

This decision follows the raiding of the office of the former Director General of the DCEC, Tymon Katlholo early 2022 and his staff officer by the DIS operatives who reportedly took files that they had targeted.

After all back and forth arguments, the CoA has set the record straight giving an invaluable lesson to the DIS that it was no super security organ and it does not have any powers to cogently supervise other security organs including the DCEC.

It is interesting that the CoA in its decision even lambasted the retired Attorney General (Abraham Keetshabe) for choosing to take sides in the ugly feud rather than timeously taking an appropriate action.

“There does not seem to have been any action on the part of the AG to engage the DIS DG to find out the cause of his intrusion or to even advise the two agencies on the scope and limitations of the statutory mandate of each of them.

Such exercise, properly embarked upon, would have likely resolved the impasse without the need for legal action,” these are the strong words of the CoA in a story carried elsewhere in this publication.

It is still puzzling that Katlholo even lacked support from the government including the AG when he bemoaned that the sealed offices raided by the DIS contained other investigative files including those involving senior members of the DIS.

Worse, even the Vice President, Slumber Tsogwane, indignantly fired Katlholo from his duties, a move that did not shake Katlholo as he stood firm for a principle that he was not willing to compromise the truth.

It is also confusing how the DIS DG (Peter Magosi) and his team were not privy to the reality that “there was no statutory mandate for the DIS to investigate alleged acts of corrupt practices and those investigative powers for such offences fall within the mandate of the DCEC”.

From now henceforth, the DIS should know that it has no supervisory powers over other organisations or agencies. It should thus leave the investigation of corruption to the DCEC, as its core mandate.

Perhaps, it was this emphasis by the court that the DIS has to consider seriously, that it has no business to interfere in any investigation or decision by the DCEC or its DG. The CoA decision was more of a lecture to the DIS. We therefore, challenge the DIS to adhere to the court decision as they have no choice and save the good name of the Directorate.

‘Compliance is a commitment to ethical behaviour’

– Unknown