Magosi’s contract expires
• Celebrity spy chief’s future at DIS lies with President Masisi • Will leaked audio influence Masisi’s decision?
• Magosi ‘blackmails’ the President • Butterfly to appear on Monday
Speculation is rife that the contract for the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) Director General, Peter Magosi might not be renewed. His contract comes to an end next month.
Since Magosi took over as the boss for the controversial spy agency in May 2018, he has been in and out of the Courts for prosecution of alleged ‘corruption’ on the part of some influential actors but has never won a single case. The DIS Director General’s contract normally takes three years which is subject for renewal at the behest of the President.
According to a source failure to provide enough evidence at Courts after declaring some companies security threats and other prominent persons as corrupt, Magosi had strained the relationship between him and the leadership of the country. “The reason why it would not be renewed is because he has failed to deliver on his assignments. His department came up with the P100 billion corruption case allegations against Welheminah ‘Butterfly’ Maswabi, former president Ian Khama, Isaac Kgosi and South African businesswoman Bridgette Motsepe but there are no results. Information in the DIS is leaking more than it used to and there are some serious divisions within the agency,” the source said. Another source said of recent government has not been renewing contracts of people in high positions and Magosi might be next to fall on the sword.
“If you remember well the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) were complaining of interference of DIS in some corruption cases, and the way it is contaminating cases which end up being lost at the Courts,” the source said.
The source further said the DIS has not been at peace since the arrival of Magosi in May 2018. Now the Directorate is divided between him and his predecessor Kgosi.
The recently leaked audio involving the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC), the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the DIS personnel has also revealed that the so called P100 billion case against Maswabi was Magosi’s figment of imagination as there is no evidence.
In June last year, Masisi’s government was embarrassed after a local firm demanded P15 million from the DIS for apparent propaganda and spin-doctoring services secured for the 2019 elections. In papers that were served and received by both the Attorney General and the DIS, World of Oath claimed it was engaged before and after the elections to conduct “ongoing development of media intelligence gathering services” as well as “social media influencer tracking and gathering”. The company said it was also engaged to conduct “reverse engineering media influence” and others.
“Some of the statements alleged to have been made by you, if found to be true, are tantamount to abuse of office and on instruction of our client, we will not hesitate to report them to your employer, President Mokgweetsi Masisi, should the need arise. We do not believe this will ever become necessary.”
The lawyers said the DIS gave World of Oath instructions around the elections “which can be reasonably and objectively categorised as having breached some of the provisions of the legislation regulating the DIS’ functions”.
“For example, activities that could give rise to any reasonable suspicion that the Directorate was concerned with furthering and protecting the interests of the ruling party leading up to the 2019 general elections. We do not believe that a time will come when such details will be disclosed to the High Court.”
But some observers are of the view that the celebrity spy chief always dangles before Masisi the ‘election thieving’ scandal hence it is difficult to get rid of him.
“Magosi knows where the bodies are buried and it would not be easy not to renew his contract. But Masisi being Masisi he might pull a surprise on Magosi and Magosi will be back in the unemployment ranks,” another source said. it is believed Masisi also wants to resolve ‘his issues’ with former president Ian Khama and it is a matter of time before they kiss and make up. Recently, the limelight loving Magosi suspended four officers for allegedly leaking information concerning the newly bought armored vehicles for President Mokgweetsi Masisi. The newly bought vehicles had been purchased by DIS for the President for security reasons. However the public has openly criticized the decision by DIS to buy expensive vehicles while the country is broke and also struggling to buy COVID-19 pandemic vaccine.
However this did not go well as some people said Masisi’s security has been compromised. This, the observers said, showed that Magosi is sleeping on his job.
Reached for comment the DIS spokesperson Edward Robert said: “This is a matter between the Director General and his employer and it will be out of line for my office to proffer a comment on the matter”.