Kgosi: ‘Mechanic’ turned feared spy chief
Spira Tlhankane | Tuesday August 20, 2024 09:13
Kgosi joined the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) at a young age and rose to the ranks of Colonel. Except that Kgosi served as Khama’s first private senior secretary for 10 years when the latter was the Vice President of the country from 1998 to 2008, nothing was ever said about him until 2007 when his name popped out in Parliament.
Then Botswana Congress Party (BCP) MP for Gaborone Central, Dumelang Saleshando asked then Cabinet minister, Daniel Kwelagobe, to state Kgosi’s job description and explain why the post of senior private secretary to the Vice President was held by a soldier and not a civilian.
Amongst others Saleshando wanted to know how a ‘mechanic’ ended up performing Cabinet business. Nicknamed ‘Spannere’, Kgosi had a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering amongst his other qualifications. According to Kgosi’s curriculum vitae, he had a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Intelligence and Security. Kgosi also held a PhD in foreign affairs and diplomacy.
Responding to Saleshando during the first meeting of the fourth session of the Ninth Parliament, Kwelagobe said Kgosi provided support to Khama through the management of his diary, secretarial and advisory services. Kgosi also attended to Cabinet business and any matter that required Khama’s attention in running the executive affairs of government.
Kwelagobe added that Kgosi was the spokesperson for Khama then and that any suitable officer serving in the public sector could hold the position of senior private secretary to the Vice President as long as they can perform to expectations.
It looked like Kgosi indeed performed to expectations no wonder Khama appointed him as the founding Director General (DG) of the DIS when it was formed in 2008 after Khama ascended to the presidency. Kgosi, who was a ‘hard worker’ during his BDF days, is said to have impressed Khama who was the former BDF commander. The DIS was formed following the passing of the Intelligence and Security Services Act, 2008. Kgosi became the face of the newly established organ and it grew to become a feared ‘creature’ with no oversight. The DIS was cloaked in mystery and for Batswana it was regarded as the definitive spy organisation whose powers and capabilities were almost limitless.
The role of the Kgosi-led DIS was to investigate, gather, co-ordinate, evaluate, correlate, interpret, disseminate and store information, whether inside or outside Botswana, for the purposes of detecting and identifying any threat or potential threat to national security.
Kgosi’s role was to advise the President and the government on any threat or potential threat to national security. He was responsible for taking steps to protect the security interests of Botswana whether political, military or economic.
The departed former DIS chief held an influential position in government and was not only the most powerful civil servant but also the most feared. What made people shudder the most was that, Kgosi had the powers to snoop on almost everyone including senior government officials. He also had the human and financial resources to do so.
Kgosi started becoming a subject of media headlines as the DIS gained public reputation as a rogue agency that was willing to breach the civil liberties of citizens. In 2009 a year after the DIS was formed, a military intelligence unit gunned down John Kalafatis in an alleged extra-judicial execution. After the killers were trialed and sentenced, Khama issued a presidential pardon for the three State security agents.
Allegations of corruption against Kgosi and human rights abuses grew as the DIS quickly turned into the most powerful security organ in the country. Well-funded and largely unaccountable, the DIS was shielded by Khama. More allegations about Kgosi’s business and financial dealings frequented the news and calls for his sacking grew loud.
In 2012 a fearless special investigation unit at the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) was tasked with investigating the rampant allegations of corruption, abuse of power and money laundering against Kgosi. The redeployment of the DCEC head, Rose Seretse, to Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA) in 2017 raised allegations that the unit was disbanded to protect Kgosi. Approaching the end of Khama’s tenure as president, Kgosi was kept as the spy chief but not for long. “I don’t report an operational matter to the President or Vice President,” these are the famous words by former DIS DG Kgosi before he was fired by President Masisi in 2018.
Kgosi was then appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the inquiry into the National Petroleum Fund (NPF) funds. He blatantly told the PAC that the buck stops with him and was solely responsible for all the accounting at DIS. “I don’t need anyone to make decisions,” he told the PAC. Kgosi who was untouchable at the time unequivocally refused to answer questions the PAC threw at him indicating that the matters were ‘classified’. President Masisi shortly after taking over in April 2018 had sent shockwaves through the Botswana political establishment when he unceremoniously sacked Kgosi.
This was the beginning of troubles for the once feared spymaster.
At some point, Kgosi was said to be rejoining the civil service when Khama nominated him to become his senior private secretary to replace George Tlhalerwa. President Masisi didn’t endorse the appointment and Kgosi remained jobless.