Ryder Gabathuse
19 November 2008
Palapye — The head of the Directorate on Intelligence and Security Services (DISS), Isaac Kgosi has encouraged senior labour officers to frustrate efforts by some foreigners who thrive on bogus documents.
Addressing the annual labour officers' conference at the Desert Sands Hotel in Palapye, Kgosi encouraged the top labour officers who included regional labour officers, district labour officers and other stakeholders to be very careful with the documents presented to them. Kgosi was presenting a paper on the topic: "Challenges presented by the employment of non-citizens".
The DISS boss was worried that it was common that there were some nationalities that were bent on penetrating Botswana "by hook or crook through obtaining and presenting bogus travelling documents, educational documents, residential and work permits".
"You need to be patriotic and frustrate all these things because they cripple our economy by diverting revenue that should otherwise benefit this country. If we are not prudent enough, our country will be infiltrated by terrorists who could ultimately wreak havoc," warned Kgosi.
He said whilst it was not possible to easily identify the forged documents, he encouraged labour officers to "please know your documents and avoid signing them in a hurry because you could be legitimising a crime".
The DISS boss however, acknowledged that every country can hire foreigners in areas where there is a gap in expertise that foreigners can fill. "But, where a foreigner is employed, it would be good to set up a succession plan ensuring that locals ultimately take over".
Kgosi presented case scenarios justifying the extent to which damage occurs due to lack of prudence on the part of public officers. He emphasised that "Botswana continues to lose a lot of money in revenue which is pocketed by some greedy people who enter the country to do just that".
He indicated that Botswana does not hate foreigners. "We are however, not going to rest on our laurels and watch these things simply happening under our noses. We have to protect our country from any security and constitutional threat".Recently, there were reports that there were people who were manufacturing and selling work and residence permits in the backyards for a song.
Kgosi appealed to the conference to help them combat some of these mushrooming crimes. He said everything should be done to avoid some of these criminals from using Botswana as a conduit for drugs and money laundering.
Kgosi declared worriedly that when raids are done on some targeted businesses, "you will be shocked to notice that those shops will not be open on the targeted days. This clearly reflects that it is public officers who warn them because they have something in common with the law breakers".
In the end, Kgosi appealed to the labour officers to use his office in frustrating those bent on using the country to launch their criminal activities. "We are a platform of government that you as labour officers should use. Please implement labour laws without any fear or favour," stressed Kgosi. The DISS will soon open one of its lines for the public to report directly to the headquarters, he announced.
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