With Member of Paliament for Tati East Guma Moyo eager to go for the jugular from the get go and DIS Director Isaac Kgosi coming prepared for the same, it was no surprise the PAC enquiry was headed for a stalemate. Barely an hour into the enquiry and there was an air of defeat and uncertainty across the room.
The look on Francistown South MP Wynter Mmolotsi (a spectator) said it all. It was no wonder he was soon nowhere to be seen. And who could blame him? Who could have foreseen AS Roma’s comeback against the dominant Barcelona two nights earlier in the UEFA Champions League? But Bonnington South MP Ndaba Gaolathe had other ideas.
Instead of the robust, shoot straight tactics employed by Guma, Gaolathe opted to approach the issue with military precision. Technical approach, very professional and calmly done.
Anybody who takes Gaolethe’s soft demeanor for a weakness can do so at their own peril. “There is no need to fight him,” he would later say when it was all said and done.
Kgosi was adamant he was not going to answer questions about a matter that was still subjudice. It all began with Moyo asking Kgosi to read a “classified” letter to which the DIS boss declined saying “as far as I am concerned I cannot read this letter before the committee as it has not yet been declassified.”
From then Kgosi shot down every question from both Moyo and Ignatius Moswaane, insisting he could not discuss details of a case that was still before the courts. The only thing the moderator Dithapelo Koorapetse could offer at the time was to ask “who classified the documents… and what evidence do you have that these documents have not been declassified?” The DIS Boss even went as far as offering advice to the committee in matters concerning classification of documents.
It was not until Gaolathe took over, questioning Kgosi about legislation concerning disbursement of public funds in relation to the National Petrolium Fund (NPF) and rules governing the intelligence unit that finally the DIS was able to open up and answer question. Even drawing Kgosi to admit there was no special dispensation forcing the DIS not to have the money disbursed under normal procedures.
