We note with concern a headline story run by Mmegi newspaper during the week, making serious allegations of torture against the military officers and police officers by intelligence services agents from the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services.
These are very serious allegations that cannot be dismissed casually.
Torture is a dehumanising act that strips the victim of dignity and self esteem. It is a barbaric and archaic way of treating a crime suspect.
This is why many countries, as per the Geneva Convention, have explicitly outlawed torture of any sort.
There can never be torture that is acceptable or legal: certainly not in an established democracy such as ours.
The danger with torture is that once it becomes an accepted form of treating suspects, then it naturally follows that with time, extra judicial killings will also have to be accepted.
When we reach that stage then we should stop all our pretensions to being a democratic state that values the rule of law.
While torture may be a way of extracting confession from suspects, it is difficult to see how such evidence will be helpful in a court of law if it is found to have been given under duress.
As we all know, the United States tried the tactic with regards to terrorist suspects kidnapped from Afghanistan. Not only is the Superpower regretting it, to this day the United States reputation, together with that of President George W. Bush, has not fully recovered from that folly.
We give credit to Mmegi Newspaper and implore them to follow through these damning allegations.
Every Motswana of any goodwill, especially those who have always believed in the principle of innocence until proven guilty, should be deeply worried by these allegations, not least because the implications are that Botswana could be slowly sliding into a police state where the rule of law is conveniently shunted aside by the security agents whenever it suits them.
When the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services was created just over a year ago, cynics decried its formation, arguing that government was building a monster, especially given the reluctance on government to create oversight checks and balances.
It, therefore, follows that if the allegations of torture are correct then it would seem like the Directorate has recklessly played into its critics’ hands.
Let’s make this point clear, there is no doubt that given the sophistication of today’s threats every country needs an intelligence service in the mould of this Directorate.
The problem, however, arises when the agency is allowed to operate as a rogue elephant, unaccountable to no-one as seems to be the case.
We urge human rights activists to take up this issue.
It has always been our deeply held opinion that the agents co-opted to man this agency were never really re-oriented to understand their new roles.
With all due respect, a good many of them hold no professional qualification beyond, of course, their drivers’ licenses and, in some rare cases short shooting courses.
This is why they have no problem using torture to extract what, to them, looks like evidence.
The tragedy though is that it may be torture today, but what will be next? As we say, the whole thing might easily metamorphose into extra judicial killings. That cannot be allowed under any circumstances, however grave the crimes.
This is why it is very important that all institutions of the State are made to internalize the elementary rule that none of them is above the law.
If we recall, “Dignity” formed a part of the axis of the 4Ds that President Ian Khama so passionately talked about in his inauguration speech on April 1.
It is difficult to see how the element of “Dignity” dovetails with chronicles of one military officer who was allegedly stripped naked in front of female torturer.
President Khama should be careful not to allow torture to become a part of his legacy.
He should use his influence at the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services to help instill “Discipline” among the Directorate’s cadres, which means following the legal route to extract evidence from suspects.
When all is said and done, proper training is the best route the Directorate should follow. Of course, it will be tedious, expensive and time consuming, but in the end the rewards will be huge and lasting. Only training can help bring to an end the short cut that the Directorate seems to have elected for itself.
