Scorpions: Parties lash out

2008-02-12 19:03

Cape Town - Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula announced the disbanding of the Scorpions on Tuesday, followed by an outcry from opposition parties.

"The Scorpions will be dissolved and the organised crime unit of the police will be phased out and a new amalgamated unit will be created," he said in Parliament during a debate on President Thabo Mbeki's State Of The Nation address.

Opposition parties lashed out, with Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille calling him arrogant for undermining Parliament's authority. The Scorpions had been established by an Act of Parliament, she said.

"And the procedures must start here in Parliament. Not for the executive to announce the dissolution of the Scorpions."

Democratic Alliance spokesperson on safety and security Dianne Kohler Barnard said Nqakula had "utterly exceeded" his mandate.

"This is a dangerous precedent that the minister is setting, announcing an outcome before the two relevant bills have come before the Safety and Security and Justice Portfolio committees for examination and deliberation by MPs..."

'Need proper measures'

Nqakula said the merger would combine the "best experience" of the Scorpions and the police's unit under the aegis of a "single command and control point".

He said this was part of a "holistic approach" to the revamp of the criminal justice system, which would have organised crime as one of its main priorities.

"We need proper measures, better human and material resources to achieve our goals in the fight against all crime..."

He said the ANC was not "reckless" in piloting a move to "change for the better" the strategies and tactics necessary to fight crime.

"We are a dynamic organisation that has always seized the moment to rise to higher levels and that is why we continue to occupy the high moral ground," he said to howls of protest and jeers from some MPs.

"A revamped criminal justice system must be able to deal with organised crime, investigation and arrest, imprisonment and sentencing, release and rehabilitation ... there must be no mercy for organised criminal gangs."

During her speech, Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla said that a recent criminal justice system review had found "gaps" in the crime fighting chain.

"It found as one of the big weaknesses a lack of capacity and poor co-ordination, and I must say that was a similar finding by Khampepe (the commission which investigated whether the Scorpions should stay independent of the police)."

"We have to address this particular challenge of co-ordination," she said.

Resisting the move

Reacting to Nqakula's announcement, Azanian Peoples Organisation MP Pandelani Nefolovhodwe said the move would be resisted.

"Azapo believes that if anything, the high success rate of the Scorpions against organised crime should be strengthened at all costs."

Speaking before Nqakula, United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said efforts to "blackmail" MPs into accepting the disbanding of the Scorpions would be vigorously resisted.

"Any attempt to blackmail this house to bend backwards and forwards to accommodate the campaigners for the disbanding (of the Scorpions) will be resisted."

The combination of prosecution and investigation in the unit had delivered results, he said.

- SAPA