8 July 2009
editorial
Johannesburg — AS A Times news poster aptly suggested yesterday, the launch of the "Hawks" was the launch of the cliche. No more will we hear of the Scorpions' sting. Instead, we can expect much striking and swooping, and even a bit of attacking, from the new crime-fighting unit.
At least, so we hope. And we hope too that all that hawkish stuff that the new unit promises will yield results. Not that we are inclined to be particularly optimistic. It is hard to forget that the unit wasn't set up because anyone thought it was the best way to fight organised crime. Rather, the Hawks, whose formal name is the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation, came about because the ANC, in its wisdom, had destroyed the Scorpions and it had to come up with something to replace it.
But the Hawks, housed in the police force, are no replacement for the Scorpions, which were part of the National Prosecuting Authority. The Scorpions were very far from perfect, but they did have a track record in fighting organised crime that was much better than anything the police could claim. That was primarily because the Scorpions' model of prosecutor-led investigations was particularly effective in tackling high-level, complex crimes.
That model simply cannot be replicated by the new unit, however carefully it tries to build relationships with the prosecution services and other agencies. That alone makes us sceptical. So too does the fact that, falling as it does into the vast (and corruptible) policy bureaucracy, the new unit's chances of being as agile and as independent as the Scorpions are not that good.
We have to admit that reports of the Hawks' glitzy launch party have added to our scepticism. The Hawks can't buy public support with fancy launches: they will have to earn it, by catching criminals, however powerful, and curbing crime and corruption.
Fortunately the unit's boss, Anwa Dramat, has a reputation as a good cop and seems to have support across SA's law enforcement agencies. He does seem to have managed to attract many of the Scorpions' investigators to his unit. He is saying the right things. We hope he will make the new unit work.
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