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South Africa: Transparency Watchdog Slates Scorpions Move
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
9 May 2008
Posted to the web 9 May 2008
Chantelle Benjamin
Johannesburg
ANTICORRUPTION watchdog Transparency International said yesterday legislation to disband the Scorpions was a blow to the African National Congress's (ANC's) integrity.
The body appealed to the government to rethink its decision to incorporate the unit into the police service, saying the only inference one could draw was that the Scorpions had been targeted because of their investigations into members of the ANC's national executive committee.
Transparency International called the Scorpions "an outstanding independent investigative unit in Africa and globally ". With this decision, SA undermined its anticorruption advances, and stalled progress made towards building strong national integrity," said Transparency International MD Cobus de Swart.
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Danny Titus, chairman of Transparency International S A , said it was disturbing that the unit was dissolved at the "prime of its performance" .
He referred to the unit's 93% conviction rate and the fact that former head Leonard McCarthy had been poached by the World Bank.
"We urge President Mbeki, the cabinet, Parliament and all South Africans to stand up against corruption by defending the continuity of the Scorpions," he said .
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