DIS, DCEC Directors not under investigation

The Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) is concerned by recent publications that have circulated in the media that cast aspersions on the DCEC Director General Brigadier Joseph Mathambo and the Directorate as a whole.

Contrary to the articles contained in the Weekend post (8^th to 14^th February 2010) under the title; “Magosi ‘technically’ on suspension,” which was a re-publication of an article carried in the same paper in its 16 to 20 November 2019 publication, and further reported on by the Mmegi of 7th February 2020 the DCEC clarifies that:

1.     The DCEC has never investigated and is not investigating Brigadier Joseph Mathambo its Director General.

2.     The DCEC is not investigating Brigadier Peter Magosi of the DIS.

3.     The DCEC has in place internal safe guards to ensure a Director General may not open and close investigations at his own instance. An independent board made up of Heads of DCEC Divisions independently makes decisions on classification of matters reported to the DCEC and on closure of case files.

4.     As such the Director General would not and cannot operate in isolation to the extent that he undermines investigations.

5.     The Corruption and Economic Crime Act (CECA) gives the DCEC Director General powers to make investigation decisions without influence or authority from any external body. Decisions of whom, how and when to investigate are exclusive to the Director General and his assistants.

6.     The DCEC has an open door policy through which any employee has access to the Director General‘s office for any matter that affects the operations of the DCEC. Therefore, it would be unfortunate should allegations that DCEC officers have written a complaint letter be true.

Whereas the media has responsibility to act as a watchdog over government institutions, a role the DCEC and the Director General fully appreciate they also have a duty to inform the nation accurately.

The DCEC urges media houses to balance their articles by giving the subjects of their stories an opportunity to state their side before going for print.

The DCEC has always been open to media enquiries but we are concerned by unbalanced stories that have impact on both the image of the DCEC Director General and that of the DCEC without being given an opportunity to respond as by the dictates of ethical journalism.

*Motshoganetsi is DCEC Public Relations Officer