Sue Blaine
18 February 2008
Johannesburg — ORGANISED business has broken its silence on the proposed incorporation of the Scorpions into the South African Police Service, with Business Against Crime saying it was "fundamentally opposed" to the move.
Last week's confirmation by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula that the Scorpions would be dissolved had led organised business to criticise the move, said the group's chairman, businessman Mark Lamberti.
It had not spoken out until now because statements about the Scorpions' future after the African National Congress (ANC) conference in Polokwane could have been interpreted as coming from disaffected elements within the ANC, said Lamberti yesterday.
Nqakula's statement , however, was definite .
"Nqakula raised the temperature. I won't comment on whether he's following due process. So we decided to put a stake in the ground," Lamberti said.
"Business Against Crime SA is fundamentally opposed to proposals to disband the Scorpions. Parliament's debate of (President Thabo Mbeki's) state of the nation speech indicated that what is intended is not the disbanding of the Scorpions, but their restructuring," the group said on Friday.
On Tuesday last week, Nqakula told Parliament the unit, part of the National Prosecuting Authority, would be phased out along with the police's organised crime unit, and a new amalgamated unit would be formed.
Business Against Crime is part of the Big Business Working Group established by Mbeki as a way to bring big business and government leaders together.
The working group has already raised the Scorpions issue with Mbeki, and was given "assurances", but after the Polokwane conference the government's message on the elite unit had been "confused", said Michael Spicer, a member of the working group, yesterday.
Business Against Crime said any new investigative unit would have to be as effective as the Directorate of Special Operations.
"First, does the unit retain the range of skills -- prosecutorial, investigative and other -- that it presently possesses? Second, is it able to operate as a cohesive unit, not dependent on either authority or resources from others?"
"Third, would it have the independence, capacity and opportunity to investigate corruption and crime in echelons of society and government up to the most senior officials and ministers, including those in the criminal justice system?"
The organisation has not approached the new leadership of the ANC to discuss the Scorpions' dissolution. A failure to do so, however, weakens any effect the organisation may have on the policy , given that the moves come from the Jacob Zuma camp.
"If you take the view (that you are only dealing with the legitimate authority), then you will lose out. It will be very much in their interest to speak to the (ANC's) national working committee," political analyst Steven Friedman said yesterday.
In response, Lamberti said the organisation was not a "lobby group" and had to work with the government of the day on issues. If the ANC wanted to speak to business about the Scorpions, it was welcome to do so, said Lamberti, who is also the CEO of retailer Massmart.
The ANC gave the government a June deadline to get rid of the Scorpions in their current form.
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