Wyndham Hartley
13 February 2008
Cape Town — Despite a torrent of opposition criticism of the African National Congress's (ANC's) decision to disband the Scorpions, members of President Thabo Mbeki's cabinet have confirmed that the elite unit will be disbanded and a new unit formed under South African Police Service (SAPS) auspices.
In the opening salvos of the debate on Mbeki's s tate of the nation speech, almost every opposition speaker told the president that the Scorpions should be retained in their present form. It then fell to Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula to confirm that the government would give effect to the resolution of the ANC's December conference to disband the unit.
Nqakula said the Scorpions would be welded into the organised crime unit of the SAPS to form a new unit with the best skills both the Scorpions and police.
Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Sandra Botha told Mbeki that his "oblique reference to the future functioning and location of the Directorate of Special Operations was meant to muddy rather than clarify this all-important issue.
"For, if you really intended taking the South African public into your confidence, you would have had to admit that the decision to scrap the Scorpions had already been made for the government by the ANC.
"The concern of the people of SA is both real and justified: who is going to lead the fight against corruption, especially considering that the ANC's chief decision making body, the NEC, is made up so substantially of individuals who are either suspected, or who have already been convicted, of crimes -- most of which relate to fraud?"
She concluded by giving a scathing list of the failures of Mbeki's government and said SA needed a clean slate and Parliament should dissolve itself to force an early election.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said Mbeki's polite reference in his speech to the future of the Scorpions seemed to contradict the ANC conference resolution.
"Any attempt to blackmail this house -- and I dare say your g overnment -- to bend backwards and forwards to accommodate the funders and campaigners for the disbandment of the Scorpions will be resisted at all costs, including resorting to legal action. Perhaps we should be looking at creating an overarching ministry of crime prevention for the entire criminal justice system, covering the SAPS, justice, correctional services, home affairs and intelligence," he said.
"Such a ministry could help to better co-ordinate our crime fighting resources and alleviate unnecessary tension between security departments and units. Specialised units, such as the DSO, would be accountable to this ministry."
Holomisa suggested that the preoccupation with the Scorpions when there were so many other challenges facing the nation was sheer foolishness, "especially since the people who funded and drove this campaign against the Scorpions were wanted by the law themselves".
Mbeki received a drubbing from both Botha and Holomisa on the revelations of acting director of public prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe concerning the investigation of charges against police commissioner Jackie Selebi. Mpshe had said in an affidavit that suspended director of public prosecutions Vusi Pikoli had many times informed Mbeki of the evidence against Selebi.
Botha said: "In November 2006 the president asked the South African Council of Churches to trust him that the evidence at his disposal did not warrant action being taken against Jackie Selebi.
"It is difficult to know why we should trust the president on this issue, given today's revelations contained in an affidavit signed by the acting director of public prosecutions which seems to prove that the p resident has misled the nation on this issue."
The debate continues today and Mbeki will respond tomorrow.
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Change!!!!!!
People should understand that disbanding the Scorpion to form a new unit does not mean the organized crime will not be dealt with-----no!!!
I personally do not see any wrongdoing regarding this matter; People always resist changes that’s we all know. During the time of merging the universities, the very same people were making noise about all those nonsense. But look what is happening now, merging those universities never deprived anybody, it was a batter change.
i support the idea of disbanding the scorpion, as long as the organized crime will still be dealt with. I also understand that… [Read Full Text]
I am happy that they are disbanded. Shuffle them up and spread them around. It upsets the balance and makes it a bit more difficult for corruption and fraud within the system. (At least for a little while) This should be done in all departments regularly !!
Announcement is premature and smacks of dictatorship. Resultant opposition will cause delays and unneccessary cost as ANC has once again not followed protocol. What's the old story, only opened his mouth to change feet.