MP claims his arrest was to intimidate him
Member of Parliament for Serowe North, Baratiwa Mathoothe was allegedly arrested by the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DIS) over sharing the State of the Nation Address (SONA) document on WhatsApp.
Mathoothe told The Midweek Sun on Tuesday shortly after his release that during the SONA presentation by President Mokgweetsi Masisi, he saw the SONA speech document in PDF format in one of the WhatsApp groups that he patronises. He then shared it to the 12th Parliament WhatAapp group asking why the general public has access to the speech whilst the President is on the podium addressing the nation. He says when he got home after leaving parliament on the night of the presentation of the SONA on Monday, he found government security agents at his home. They detained him and proceeded to ask where he got the document from. Mathoothe said he tried to explain to the DIS officers that he was sharing the document in the group to ask why such a leakage can happen but the security agents did not listen to him. He said they only listened to him the following morning. “This is political harassment,” he said, blaming the ruling Botswana Democratic Party for intimidation tactics and trying to destroy the morale of opposition parties.
He suspects that Minister of Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration Kabo Morwaeng is the one who instructed DIS agents to arrest him. Mathoothe said that this is just a political tactic to frustrate him but antics by government will not work even though he spent the night at the SSG cells with no one knowing where he was. Furthermore, he said that he knows that being an opposition Member of Parliament comes with such challenges but these challenges motivate them to forge ahead. Chairperson of the Botswana Patriotic Front, Carter Morupisi said that it is shocking to see the current regime detaining individuals even though the evidence on the ground does not point to them. He warns that such antics can agitate a nation as people do not want to see the democracy of the nation deteriorating. He advised the public to use their voting power in a wise way as they can see what the current regime is doing. BPF Women’s League President, Cathrine Sepora urged all opposition party members to work together to enforce
regime change as the current government is all talk but no action. Government Communications could not comment on whether or not there was a leak of the SONA speech before our publication went to print as they said that the chief spokesperson to the Office of the President went to the hospital.