The High Court has dismissed an application by the State to strike out allegations of corruption and abuse of office from a lawsuit filed by a senior official of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS).
The application was brought by the Attorney General, representing the DISS and the Botswana Police Service, against Kuda Portia Malikongwa, the suspended Deputy Director of Legal Services at the DIS. The state argued that the allegations were scandalous, vexatious, and irrelevant, and that their publication contravened the Intelligence and Security Services Act.
In his ruling, Justice Zein Kebonang found that the allegations were relevant to Malikongwa’s core legal claim of unlawful arrest and detention. Her court declaration states that her arrest in October 2024 was a result of her refusal to follow instructions from DIS Director General Peter Fana Magosi to bypass official procurement processes. The instructions were related to the purchase of Karakul sheep from Uzbekistan using state funds, a transaction she believed was corrupt. The declaration further alleges that Magosi stated the order for the sheep came from former President Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi.
The state sought to have these and other assertions removed from the court record. Justice Kebonang ruled that the allegations provide context for Malikongwa’s arrest and are therefore not irrelevant. The ruling cited Order 20 rule 18 of the Rules of Court and referenced international case law to define the terms scandalous, vexatious, and irrelevant.
The court also rejected the argument that the allegations violated the Intelligence and Security Services Act, which prohibits the disclosure of confidential information by DISS employees. The ruling stated that the alleged acts of corruption and embezzlement “are not and cannot be protected by the DISS Act nor is non-disclosure in the national interest.”
The State’s application to strike out was dismissed with costs. The substantive case regarding Malikongwa’s claim of unlawful arrest and detention will proceed.
