THE BOTSWANA GAZEttE WEDNESDAY 24 MARCH 2021 PAGE 1 MAJAGA CONSIDERS SUING FOR MALICIOUS PROSECUTION PAGE 2 WEDNESDAY 24 MARCH 2021 FREE! “Kitso ke maatla” THE SPIES ARE LISTENING How DISS Bugs Your Phones – US Report • Circles’ Pegasus spy software snoops on calls and text messages • SS7 system intercepts networks and locations for DISS • Spy software can hack your Facebook and WhatsApp • DISS accused of snooping on phones in 2019 elections • Software is used by only 25 countries worldwide STORY ON PAGE 3 • UN condemns human rights violations STORY ON PAGE 3 MOSWAANE DID DPP FAMILY SUSPECTS MISLEAD FOULPLAY IN MMUSI ABOUT Son’S DEATH GERRIE NEL? PAGE 3 PAGE 2 Win a trolley. Enter the competition Activate and fund the account with a minimum of P250. First 50 clients to complete the above process automatically qualify. Download the SC Mobile App today. PAGE 2 NEWS WEDNESDAY 24 MARCH 2021 THE BOTSWANA GAZEttE Did DPP mislead Mmusi about Gerrie Nel? • Minister says he told Parliament what the DPP told him • Minister said Nel provided a free service but fresh information suggests otherwise • Masisi to meet Ramaphosa on Friday Majaga considers suing for malicious prosecution TEFO PHEAGE • Attorney says he is studying the judgement for the purpose • Convinced Majaga his client was targeted he Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) may have misled the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Kagiso Mmusi, and by extension Parliament, that the Head of the Private Prosecution Unit of South Africa’s controversial proto- SESUPO RANTSIMAKO nor. T “The prosecution was burdened with nationalist Afrikaner group, AfriForum, was providing his services to the government “free of charge”. he defence attorney acting for the proving its case against Majaga beyond Minister Mmusi told Parliament recently that Advocate Gerrie Nel was providing his MP for Nata/Gweta in the legisla- reasonable doubt,” he noted. “In so doing, services to the government “free of charge and the work was considered for the public Ttor’s protracted defilement case, 23 witnesses in total were brought to tes- good” and that “his agreement with the DPP is still in force.” He added that the Direc- Mishingo Jeremia, says he and his client tify but only 13 statements were admitted. torate of Public Prosecutions did not have any agreement or any form of relationship are yet to decide whether to sue the gov- To prove that the case was rushed to court, with AfriForum and that nothing was due or payable from the Government of Botswana ernment for malicious prosecution. the DNA (test results) was released while to the pro-Afrikaner organisation. The MP, Polson Majaga, was acquit- the case was ongoing. Further, in spite of However, hardly two weeks later, the DPP and AfriForum have revealed that Nel has ted and discharged on Monday after the other suspects who were involved sexually been hired by the Botswana Government for cases of suspended intelligence officer, court concluded that the complainant had with the complainant, no case was regis- Welheminah Maswabi, against the state. failed a credibility test. After their victory, tered against them. So from the onset, it In the aftermath, the ministry is reportedly unhappy that the answers provided by Jeremia said they are looking at the judge- was clear that Majaga was targeted for the the DPP have portrayed it as dishonest. “The minister and Permanent Secretary are ment with a view to launching an action reasons we do not know.” unhappy at what transpired, especially the withholding of critical information on Nel’s for malicious prosecution against the gov- Jeremia said he was also appalled by engagement that could have formed part of the answer in Parliament,” says an impec- ernment. Jeremia told The Botswana Ga- the way Majaga was treated by the public. cable source. “It was bad for the minister to deny that Nel is being paid, only for Afri- zette that it was clear that his client was “The public has to understand that any ac- Forum and the DPP to say he has been hired. That portrayed the minister as dishonest.” targeted because Majaga was arrested and cused person is entitled to the right of be- Minister Mmusi this week told The Botswana Gazette that he said in Parliament was rushed to court while investigations were ing assumed innocent until proven guilty,” what he had been told by the DPP. “I was told that Nel was volunteering, and that’s still ongoing. he asserted. “If the public, especially the what I gave Parliament,” he said in an interview. “I think what happened thereafter, you It was shocking that his client was the civil society bodies, really cared about can ask the DPP. I generally don’t like interfering with their affairs and want them to only one charged when there were other Majaga’s case, they should have waited for maintain their independence.” suspects who were allegedly sexually in- the court to decide.” It may well be that the contractual agreements between Nel and the DPP were not volved with the complainant, the lawyer Since he was first arrested last year, yet concluded at the time he was to respond to Parliament, he added, evidently eager to added. The complainant admitted in her Majaga has maintained that the case was maintain equanimity in spite of possibly having been sold a dummy by a department in evidence that she was sexually involved politically motivated. The MP was slapped his portfolio responsibility. with one Kabelo, who was her boyfriend. with a 60-day suspension from member- Meanwhile, President Mokgweetsi Masisi is set to travel to South Africa on Friday Jeremia said in spite of this admission, the ship of the Botswana Democratic Party where it is expected that the P100 billion case, which has affected diplomatic relations investigating team never bothered to pur- that was extended indefinitely when it between the two countries, will form part of discussions. sue the lead but remained adamant that ended. Majaga was the one who had defiled a mi- Advertisement Chief Operating Officer (COO) BBS Limited invites suitably qualified members of the public, preferably with extensive banking experience to apply for the position of Chief Operations Officer. To apply for this opportunity please submit your application through our online recruitment platform by following the link below- https://bbs.jb.skillsmapafrica.com/ The closing date for applications is 24 April 2021. Only shortlisted candidates will be responded to. THE BOTSWANA GAZEttE WEDNESDAY 24 MARCH 2021 NEWS PAGE 3 Moswaane Family The Spies Are Suspects Foul Play In Son’s Death • Family says a private doctor was hired Listening by their son’s girlfriend’s family • Allege someone must have sneaked How DISS Bugs Your Phones – US Report into the hospital and attacked their son Pegasus spyware enable remote surveillance of smart- • Hospital sources say Moswaane was a phones without the user’s knowledge or permission. difficult patient Once Pegasus is installed, it targets the user’s private data, including passwords, contact lists, calendar GAZETTE REPORTER events, text messages and live voice calls from popu- lar mobile messaging apps. They also use Signalling he Moswaane family have opened a case at Fran- System 7 (SS7), which is a protocol suite developed cistown Central Police station (CPS) to determine in 1975 for exchanging information and routing phone Tif there was no foul play in the death of Kagiso, calls between different wireline telecommunications who was the son of the MP for Francistown West, Ignatius companies, says the report. Moswaane, The Botswana Gazette has established. Because of SS7’s lack of authentication, any at- But the Commander of the police station, Lebalang Maniki, was hedging when approached. “Due to the policy tacker that interconnects with its network (such as we have as BPS, I am constrained to comment on individ- an intelligence agency, a cyber criminal purchas- ual cases,” Maniki said in an interview with The Botswana ing SS7 access, or a surveillance firm running a fake Gazette. phone company) can send commands to a subscriber’s Kagiso succumbed to COVID-19-related complications “home network” falsely indicating that the subscriber after battling for his life at Sir Ketumile Masire Teach- is roaming. These commands allow the attacker to ing Hospital. However, the family suspects that someone track the victim’s location, and intercept voice calls sneaked into the hospital and attacked him. A spokesper- and SMS text messages. Such capabilities could also son of the family, Lebogang Moswaane, said in an inter- be used to intercept codes used for two-factor authen- view this week that they are deeply perturbed by allega- tication sent via SMS – WhatsApp. tions that the day before Kagiso died, a private doctor was LETLHOGILE MPUANG It was reported in May 2019 that WhatsApp iden- hired by his girlfriend’s family to attend to him. tified and shortly thereafter fixed a vulnerability that “On the day before his death, my brother informed the otswana’s Directorate of Intelligence and family that he was injected by that doctor while asleep in allowed attackers to inject commercial spyware onto Security Services (DISS) has been listed as the early hours around 4am,” Lebogang said. “When he phones simply by ringing the number of a target’s de- one of the few national intelligence agencies woke up, he was forced to take some tablets but managed B vice in at least 20 countries across the globe, ranging to vomit them because he had been uncomfortable with in the world using Israeli hackers Circles spyware from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North that is used to spy on citizens without hacking the the way the medication was administered to him.