We will get those guns — DIS
● Khama says there is nothing incriminating in his house
The Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) is adamant that it will find the guns it is looking for at former president Ian Khama’s house as it goes against him this morning at the Court of Appeal (CoA).
The spy unit has two back-to-back appeals against Khama related to his State House Number 4, which the DIS believes is a hub for illegal firearms. In December last year, two High Court judges in separate applications ruled against the spy unit that wanted a warrant to search the house.
In the first appeal, the Lobatse High Court’s Justice Ranier Busang denied DIS the search warrant and now the intelligence agency is seeking a review of that decision, as it still wants access to the house.
The DIS in its court papers is adamant that the former president’s State House was a hub for illegal weapons and needed to be searched.
The spy unit is of the view that Khama smuggled weapons from the DIS armoury into a safe in his house making it difficult for the intelligence agency to get evidence for investigations.
The grounds of appeal state that when the armoury was searched nothing incriminating was found despite being common knowledge that the weapons were initially in the facility.
“We want to search the house as we believe the weapons were removed from the armoury to the safe inside Khama’s house. That is also why we want access to the CCTV footage to get a clue as to how the weapons were moved,” insisted the State. The DIS is accusing Khama of moving the weapons before it could get the chance to search the house. Moreover, the State also says investigations were likely to be stalled if it is not granted access to the house. On the second appeal, the spy unit is appealing an order that gave Khama access to the same State House and ordering the unit to unseal it. The order was granted by Gaborone High Court judge, Godfrey Radijeng in late December last year.
The DIS is arguing that the sealing was part of the investigations and that it was on a temporary basis.
“Khama knew about the sealing way back and did not indicate that it was an inconvenience to him,” the State argued.
Meanwhile, Khama is opposing both appeals and accused the State of being dishonest as it had been granted a similar search warrant before. In his opposition papers, he is arguing that the State had access to the house before and they did not find anything incriminating against him and wonders why the State is hellbent on getting another access.
Khama said the continuous sealing of his house was illegal therefore, that was why it was not allowed to continue by the judge.
“The DIS was operating on self-help after they were denied a search warrant and what they are doing is illegal. There is nothing empowering them to seal someone’s property without a search warrant, the removal of staff, my dogs by the DIS, and subsequently padlocking of the premises is outright illegal,” he said.
Khama is represented by Ramalepa Attorneys while Sifelani Thapelo represents the State.