Scorpions to be screened
15/02/2008 20:04  - (SA)  

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Johannesburg - Scorpion investigators would be screened before being incorporated into the SA Police Service, the Mail and Guardian reported on Friday.

In an interview with the paper, the chairperson of the ANC's subcommittee on peace and stability, Siphiwe Nyanda, said the Scorpions would be audited to remove "bad apples" linked to apartheid's dirty tricks - or those who worked for "foreign services".

Nyanda defended the ruling party's decision to dissolve the unit, a move which has been widely criticised by opposition parties.

He argued that National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi could have been investigated by the police's own staff.

"No, I think the police can also investigate the national police commissioner. The police themselves arrest other police.

"... but I'm saying our country is not an island. There are police forces that don't have the Scorpions, but they investigate themselves.

"It obviously becomes more difficult the more senior the person is. It doesn't mean that it is undoable. It depends on the integrity of the police," he said.

On the recommendations of the Khampepe Commission - which looked into the mandate and location of the Scorpions and recommended that it remain part of the NPA but report politically to the Ministry of Safety and Security - Nyanda said he had no comment as the party had not seen the report.

President Thabo Mbeki had not shown it to the party or its National Executive Committee, he said.

He told the paper that dissolving the unit would not affect the upcoming trial against party president, Jacob Zuma.

"It is not in our interest to interfere with the judiciary. It is not in our interest to interfere with the legal processes that are afoot now."