Africa-Press – Botswana. The Directorate of Intelligence and Security Service (DISS) Tribunal is said to have forwarded several cases against DISS to the Director General of the secret service, Brigadier Peter Magosi, to defend.
The DISS Tribunal receives complaints from people who feel aggrieved by DISS officers’ actions.
The press has established that some complaints are from officers of DISS itself whose identities cannot be revealed because that is against the DISS Act.
Abuse of power
According to sources, the complaints were routed through the Registrar of the High Court in accordance with procedure and then forwarded to the Chairperson of the DISS Tribunal, Justice Dr Godfrey Radijeng.
“Most of the complaints are about harassment, abuse of power and assault,” said a highly placed source who added that the DISS has already been served to answer for several complaints.
According to statutory prescriptions, the DISS Tribunal consists of a High Court judge and two other persons, one of whom shall be a person who has considerable knowledge of the subject matter of the complaint and operation of security agencies.
Vexatious
Sources say some complaints were thrown out by the Tribunal because it does not inquire into any complaint that (a) relates to a matter that is the subject of judicial proceedings; (b) it considers to be prejudicial to national security; or (c) it considers to be frivolous and vexatious or is not made in good faith.
Once the probe into DISS complaints are done, the Tribunal notifies the President, the minister responsible for intelligence and security, the Director General of DISS and the complainant of the results of the proceedings.
Where the DISS Tribunal decides that compensation in the form of money should be paid to the complainant, it directs that the money be paid from public funds.
President Mokgweetsi Masisi recently told journalists that complaints against the modus operandi of DISS had been noted.
“There are ongoing restructuring efforts to address some of the complaints,” the President but did not elaborate.
“The details of the developments are not for public consumption,” he added.
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