There is a context in which those in intelligence services use the term “chatter” and last Sunday, a source alerted former president, Ian Khama, to “half-baked chatter” about impending danger to his life and limb.“I hope you are on high alert security-wise,” the nameless source warned Khama via what appears to have been a WhatsApp message.
In apparent response to a question that the former president seems to have asked earlier but is not part of the short dialogue thread that Sunday Standard has had access to, the source stated: “That Masisi and his gang have not given up on attempts on your life.” That will be President Mokgweetsi Masisi and the gang will be operatives of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS) to whom such mission would fall.
Allegations of an assassination plot against Khama are not new – as a matter of fact, last month Sunday Standard published a story in which Khama made the same allegations. It can’t be too hard to discern the chaos that would follow the successful execution of such plot and how difficult it would be for Masisi to govern. We asked Khama whether the government (or Masisi to be precise) would still want to assassinate him if there had already been public reporting about such plot.
His answer was as follows: “If they are capable of the P100 billion fabrication, which was easy to expose, as well as the rigging of the elections, then clearly they pay little heed to the consequences of their actions being found out.” The P100 fabrication relates to a now legless case in which Khama and the former DISS Director General, Isaac Kgosi, are alleged to have embezzled P100 billion from foreign reserves with the aid of a DISS agent called Wilhelmina “Butterfly” Maswabi. For now at least, the Butterfly case has gone nowhere prosecutorially and the accused have turned the tables on the government. Since 2019, Khama has been alleging that the general election was rigged.
We also asked DISS to respond to the assassination allegations as made by Khama. “The Directorate, as per the Intelligence and Security Services Act (2008), is mandated to offer former presidents personal protection, not to harm let alone assassinate them,” responded Edward Robert, who is DISS’ Public Relations Director. “Former President Khama has been making these allegations in the media throughout the year, and the Directorate finds it highly regrettable.”
Indeed, the length of time that has elapsed would seem to be evidence that there is no plot to kill Khama. However, Khama interprets the lapse of time differently. He alleges that whenever he travels in the country, there are DISS agents following him: “These guys will follow me and on the way, like in Mahalapye, another lot takes over.”
He sees a parallel with what happened to Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who was poisoned some three months ago and had to be airlifted to a German hospital for special medical treatment. He (Khama) quotes a CNN report that says that Russian secret service followed Navalny for four years before they did anything to him. “You don’t get followed around for fun,” says Khama, a former Botswana Defence Force commander under whom DISS was established. “Obviously they do so to do something. It costs money and time and manpower. This expense is for a purpose. If they wanted information about where I am going they could just ask my DIS security to do so for them. The fact that they don’t speaks for itself.”
In response to this particular allegation, Robert says that officers assigned to Khama are the only ones who form his protection detail.“They are required by law to provide him round the clock protection as per established protection security norms,” he says.In the past, Khama has alleged concerted effort by the Office of the President to continually downgrade the security around him in terms of the number of bodyguards and equipment that they need to do their job effectively.
“I have had to provide for myself with private security,” he told Sunday Standard last month, adding that the powers-that-be routinely change the bodyguards in and out without consulting him.Conversely, Robert says that the deployment of security officers to Khama is a function that is administered in terms of the Intelligence and Security Services Act.
“The Directorate is aware of similar statements uttered by former President Khama to the media from time to time and notes that the former President may not always be happy about adjustments to his security. However, security adjustments for former Presidents is done according to assessments conducted by the Directorate from time to time. The adjustments are necessary to serve the very same purpose of securing a former President, and are not necessarily intended to occasion them harm in any shape or form. Such changes may also result from organizational changes that the Directorate would from time to time subject itself.”
The stand-off between a sitting president and former president is ahistorical but ultimately this is not an issue between Khama and Masisi. What is happening is not good for the country’s image and could threaten national security. We asked both the DIS spokesman and the former president to resolve the impasse between the concerned parties.Khama is highly skeptical of a positive outcome.
“Do you really think they want to find a solution when they resort to all the many actions, some minor and others major, including blatantly and unashamedly and irresponsibly being prepared to break the law?” he posed.
For his part, Robert said that DISS is “always amenable” to working cordially with Khama “as he is an important former head of state who still has an important role to play in nation-building and promoting political stability in the country.” Such optimism notwithstanding, he noted that “former president Khama is still an active politician and as such will make political comments which my office may not be in a position to respond to. However, the Director General’s office is always open for him to register his dissatisfaction.”
Sunday Standard was also interested in the source of the allegations, asking Khama how credible the source was and Robert whether DISS had reason to suspect that the former president has spies within the Directorate. Khama’s response was that the source wanted to remain anonymous “for fear of repercussions.” That state of affairs, he asserted, demonstrated the source’s credibility. Robert’s own response was that “the Directorate will not speculate on how former President Khama receives information.”
