On the face of it, it seemed like mission impossible. Two surveillance operatives with make shift equipment reporting to two military master tacticians up against the Director General of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DIS) Isaac Kgosi who had at his back and call, well trained special force commandoes, loyalty of the Botswana Defence Force Military Intelligence, a section of the army ground forces and state of the art surveillance equipment. The seven man team behind the black operation to outs the DIS boss however made up for their numerical and technological inferiority with tactical finesse.
For weeks leading to Kgosi’s ouster, the two operatives kept the DIS boss under surveillance like a scent hound.
Six o clock in the morning of Wednesday 2nd May, one of the surveillance operatives spotted Kgosi outside the Office of the President complex in a curious meeting with the Chief of Military Intelligence Colleen Nkete. From there the surveillance agent fed the masterminds of the operation former BDF Commander Lt General Tebogo Masire, Brigadier Peter Magosi and their closely knit team, details of the clandestine operation as it unfolded. The operation now under way was the culmination of weeks of detailed surveillance and planning involving a very small team of President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s close confidantes.
The architects of the operation wanted to keep an element of surprise and evade any response from Kgosi and his charges which included DIS highly trained special force commandoes poached from the BDF, a section of the BDF ground forces and the military Intelligence which were believed to be loyal to the DISS Director General.
To spring a surprise on the DISS boss, the small group had to make do with makeshift equipment while flying under the radar. They had to come up with credible cover stories to disperse Kgosi’s base.
Seven days before the DIS boss was fired, his brother Colonel Shadrack Kgosi, deputy commander of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) Number One Infantry Brigade which is made up of Gaborone ground forces was dispatched to India on a short course as part of the operation. The plan for an ambush had to be surgical. In the early days of the operation, however, there was a major glitch. There were indications of a fatal leak that threatened to throw a spanner in the works. The architects of the operation received intelligence information that the DIS Director General was putting in place counter intelligence strategies.
As part of his strategy to counter President Masisi’s moves, Kgosi whittled down the 14 member DIS Interception Unit to only three of his most trusted loyalists. This resulted in intelligence black out for the operation. The operation masterminds did not know what was happening inside the DIS Interception Unit, and were flying blind.
The president had wanted to drop Kgosi and announce Brigadier Peter Magosi as his successor, on the day he appointed his new Cabinet, but was dissuaded by former BDF commander Lt Gen Tebogo Masire. Lt Gen Masire who is Masisi’s confidante was worried that a possible groundswell of dissent from parliamentarians who had been left out of Masisi’s cabinet could provide the much needed fuel for Kgosi’s counter strike. That is where information about the plan to drop the DIS boss may have leaked.
Masisi, Masire and Magosi then put their heads together to come up with a strategy to manage Kgosi’s ouster. They roped in four like minded allies (known to this publication) and hatched an operation which culminated in the DISS boss being lured out of his lair to the Office of the President where the Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP), Carter Morupisi read him his termination letter. The operation was so secret that even the PSP who was tasked with handing Kgosi’s his termination letter was not informed until just before Kgosi was fired. A contingent of BDF ceremonial forces which was only engaged on the need to know basis immediately stormed into Morupisi’s office, body searched Isaac Kgosi and seized his two Glock 19 service pistols. One was strapped around his waist and the other concealed under his trousers leg.
The Glock 19 is a small pistol, defined as “compact” and made easier to conceal for use by military and police forces. Kgosi was then escorted out of the office by heavily armed BDF officers adding a shock and awe execution to the operation.
At the parking lot, Kgosi tried to walk towards his car, but was directed to the waiting BDF sedan where he was driven to the DIS head office ensconced between heavily armed BDF personnel. Following closely behind was Brigadier Magosi in his Audi sedan and head of DIS Special Task Team Wilhelmina (surname withheld) codenamed “Butterfly” who was driving Kgosi’s car.
At the DISS offices, Kgosi’s personal belongings had already been packed away in cardboard boxes. The former DISS boss performed the official hand over before DIS directors were called in, informed about Kgosi’s “retirement” and introduced to their new boss. DIS deputy Director General Modiri Kooas then issued an internal memo stating: Addresses are informed that Mr Isaac Seabelo Kgosi has retired from the Directorate of Intelligence and Security as the Director General with immediate effect. Brigadier Peter Fana Magosi has been appointed the Director General of the directorate.”
Kgosi was then escorted to his heavy security mansion in Phakalane where a thorough search did not yield anything.
President Masisi’s circle was this week bracing for a possible Kgosi counter strike. So far it has been a battle between strategic mastery and technological sophistry. Both Brigadier Magosi and Lt Gen Masire are trained Special Forces commandoes which makes them super soldiers placing them head and shoulders above Isaac Kgosi who is an ordinary infantry man. Brigadier Magosi who was head of Military Intelligence and Kgosi’s boss is something of a legend in the special operations community. Among his prot├®g├®s are late Lesotho army commanders, Lt-Gen Khoantle Mot┼íomot┼ío,Tlali Kamoli, Colonel Tefo Hashatsi, and Brigadier Bulane Sechele trained commandoes who were involved in a 2017 gun battle inside the Lesotho barracks which resulted in the killing of LDF commander
Lt-Gen Khoantle Tlali Kamoli, Colonel Tefo Hashatsi Brigadier Bulane Sechele were trained by Brigadier Magosi and abused their skill to take on the whole Lesotho army, muscle into the barracks and make their way to the commander.