Take for instance, the unpopular decision made by the DIS head honcho, Peter Magosi, who halted the investigation mounted by the DIS Sebele crew who were hell bent on knowing the sources of Mmegi journalists within the DIS.
We are aware that the Sebele-based team of investigators are bitter that they were stopped on their tracks from pursuing their investigation of journalists when they thought they were making major inroads.
On the flip side, it’s democracy that suffers as politicians and journalists are arbitrarily arrested. One investigator even said that they were just on the verge of applying for a demand warrant in their endeavour to force us to open up about our source within the DIS.
Little did they know that, to the media, sources are sacrosanct and there is a cardinal rule that cannot be broken, the one of revealing the identity of the source.
We however, doff our heads off to Magosi, a man at the helm of the feared DIS, to have saved the day for democracy when his charges chose to trample on it by raiding and arresting two journalists working for Mmegi newspaper in the name of criminal investigation. The notion of confiscating gadgets like mobile phones, laptop and an ipad was meant to instil fear in the minds of the journalists and nothing else.
The intolerable nature of the country’s intelligence sleuths has exposed their appetite to play big by arresting media workers. They also have a false belief that no one should report on their activities even when they have acted outside the law or they have strayed onto other people’s lanes.
Whilst the operations of the intelligence are simply covert and meant to benefit the organisation in terms of intelligence gathering, the role of the media in a democratic society is much wider, overt and meant to enrich democracy. For the longest time, the DIS has been a divided institution, a development that is worth reporting on by the media. The public that pay tax that sustains the DIS operations has the right to know about the health of the intelligence organisation.
The media’s work is to ensure the public knows what is happening around them.
What is covert to the intelligence is not necessarily covert to the media. In the execution of its duty, the media has the right to scrutinise even the work of the DIS for the benefit of the public, since an Act of Parliament set the DIS.
After all the hullabaloo, we salute you Rre Magosi for reigning in over your charges whose mission was to see journalists locked up in prison for reporting on an issue that required accountability from the DIS. You have shown the world that there is only one DG of the DIS.
We hope your charges will give the media the space to do its job without fear of being arrested and imprisoned especially as the country goes to the polls next year.
Today's thought
‘A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way’
– John Maxwell
