Independence buys freedom

Recording sheds light on P100 billion investigation

A leaked audio has revealed Botswana’s top spies, detectives and prosecutors huddled together in a meeting to strategies for an investigation into how former president Ian Khama and his ‘enforcer’ Isaac Kgosi may have instructed the Bank of Botswana to shift funds raised from government bonds during Khama’s term in office


DISS fails to account for concealed ivory

The Directorate on Intelligence and Security Services (DISS) has been accused of using its anti-poaching operation as a way of concealing elephant tusks from the responsible government department and potentially using it as a conduit for ivory smuggling.


Detention and harassment of journalists investigating the construction of the president’s holiday home

Statement

Botswana security agents on Wednesday afternoon briefly detained and threatened to kill three journalists from INK Centre for Investigative Journalism, a non-profit journalism outlet based in Botswana. The detention which occurred in the central part of Botswana appears to be an effort to intimidate and harass independent media in a country lauded as the shining example of democracy in Africa. Seven armed plain clothes security agents on quad bikes and SUVs barred the journalists near Mosu village, some 600kms north eastern Gaborone and warned them never to “set foot” near President Ian Khama’s private compound or risk death.