Katlholo sues DIS, Magosi and others
Suspended Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) Director General (DG), Tymon Katlholo is demanding P2 million from the State for defamation.
The embattled Katlholo has filed a lawsuit against the Attorney General, Advocate Abraham Keetshabe, the DG of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) Peter Magosi, spy agency spokesperson Edward Robert, the DCEC lead investigating officer Jet Mafuta, and the acting DG of the DCEC Tshepo Pilane citing malicious and defamatory utterances by the above mentioned.
In his suit, filed this week, Katlholo, who was surrounded by controversy before his suspension last year June for daring to investigate Magosi, demands damages from the State for what he alleges as statements made by the defendants that were deliberately malicious and intended to injure his good name and reputation.
“Despite demand, the defendants have failed and refused to retract the defamatory statements or tender an apology to me,” he said in his papers. He has detailed how the defendants ruined his reputation and good name starting with the spokesperson for the DIS, Robert, whom he said on May 3, 2022, acting during the cause and scope of his duties he uttered words in a press statement carried on one of the local radio stations and its Facebook page.
Katlholo explained that the statements made by Magosi and Robert were defamatory in that they were understood by the general public and the DCEC staff or implied to the public that despite being the substantive Director General of the DCEC, a law enforcement agency, he was a “national security threat”, a criminal and lacked the integrity to hold such an office.
“The statements were further understood that my office was a place where the alleged acts of national security threats or as it were, such criminal activities were planned or undertaken, hence it was deemed necessary to seal the office as a scene of the crime,” he said.
He pointed out that the statement made by Robert was not made in good faith nor had Magosi or the spokesperson made efforts to ascertain the truth of the statements and whether he had reasonable grounds after proper analysis of the facts availed to him to believe it to be true. Further, Katlholo said at the time such statements were made, Magosi and Robert were aware that all that was attributed to him as a “national security threat” had nothing to do with him and that there were no reasonable grounds to suspect that he was involved in any conspiracy that threatened national security.
Katlholo went on to indicate that on May 11, 2022 Magosi filed an answering affidavit deposed by Mafuta and that in the said affidavit he explains that on or around January 15, 2019, the former DIS boss Isaac Kgosi was arrested by Magosi on which time he (Kgosi) uttered words to the effect that he would topple the government of which an investigation was carried out to establish if he could topple the government.
“Both Magosi and Mafuta knew or ought to have known at the time that I did not play any role on the concerned files in my personal or official capacity because, from the perspective of my predecessor and even the DCEC investigation, it was a dead file. No offence was disclosed during the investigation,” Katlholo said.
More on Mafuta and his affidavit is that through his assessment of the situation, he came to reasonable suspicion that Katlholo was deliberately stalling and obstructing the investigation by Magosi into both Kgosi and Seleka Springs, Katlholo said there was no basis to that allegation. The suspended Katlholo said by Mafuta’s admission, he did not come up with any demonstrable evidence to substantiate his assertions that indeed he deliberately stalled and obstructed investigations therefore, one could not help but conclude that his statement was baseless and intentionally malicious.
“Regarding the narration by Mafuta, it should be noted that on June 7, 2022, the acting DCEC DG Pilane, in my absence, produced to the Deputy Sheriff the very same file on Seleka Springs and the procurement of supply and installation of encryption solution for the DCEC which he had alleged was kept hidden in my office and my staff ’s offices,” Katlholo stated.
Katlholo also said to the best of his knowledge at the material time the two offices remained sealed since May 3, 2022 as crime scenes, begged the question as to how genuine Pilane to Mafuta could say that he (Katlholo) had custody of the file and information in his office.
He further intimated: “It should also be noted that this is one and the same file from which I had furnished Magosi with the information relating to the same file earlier on or around April 5, 2022. Given that it begs the question as to what then was the basis for Mafuta to conclude that there was reasonable suspicion that he (Katlholo) was restricting the release of information and therefore, stalling and obstructing Magosi investigations.” Meanwhile, Katlholo also in his suit spoke briefly about facts cover-up, saying known facts were discarded while a taunting attitude was adopted to exploit incidents by clothing them under the guise and imputation of investigation of national security threats.