The Security Association of Botswana has accused the Directorate of Intelligence Services (DIS) of sabotage.
The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security said the association should clean their house first before pointing fingers.
Augustine Makgonatsotlhe, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security, under whose portfolio security guards fall, has described the Security Association of Botswana as “cry babies”.
“Before they can accuse whoever they want to accuse, they should first clean their own house,” he said.
Makgonatsotlhe explained that, as the controller, the ministry has met with the association and some of the issues that they complained about have being resolved and added that they will always engage them if necessary.
“Some private security companies have either been deregistered or delisted because they failed to comply with the regulations,” he said, adding that it is very surprising that the association can simply accuse DIS for absolutely nothing.
“DIS don’t even seat on tender boards or evaluate tenders,” Makgonatsotlhe said.
He further stated that there are certain companies that don’t comply therefore they would not win any tenders from government if they do not do what the law requires.
“Most of the noise that is being made comes from small companies that don’t comply with the law, to the extent that some of them even employ illegal immigrants.
Makganatsotlhe said they want the industry to be clean, professional and to abide with the law.
“There is bad blood between us and DIS,” said Mr Gaolatlhe, the chairman of the Security Association of Botswana. “DIS is sabotaging us as security companies and we are now tired of this.”
He added that they wrote to the ministry but nothing is happening.
“Some of the members have been secretly deregistered without any notification,” he stated and complained that one learns about his or her deregistration only after asking to be briefed why he or she lost the tender and the answer given is that “DIS has vetted you out”.
Gaolatlhe said they currently do not know under which ministry they fall under because “today DIS says this, the next day the ministry of Defence, Justice and Security says that.
“It has brought a lot of confusion among our members,” he complained.
Nyalalane Magingo, the Managing Director of Bossiedee Guard Security, concurred.
“DIS has ruined our future as security companies and that is not acceptable,” he said, adding that he was hopeful that the association would take the matter up as most of the members had lodged their complaints with the association.
