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Scorpions: Papers have a say
14/02/2008 15:54 - (SA)
Johannesburg - "A disgrace", "Answers needed" and "Crushing more than the Scorpions" was how some newspaper editorials reacted on Thursday to Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula's announcement in Parliament that the Scorpions would be dissolved.
"Disgrace does not begin to describe the decision by the African National Congress to disband the Scorpions," a front page editorial in Business Day read.
This followed Nqakula's announcement during a debate on President Thabo Mbeki's State Of The Nation address on Wednesday in which Nqakula said: "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."
The country's opposition parties stated that as the Scorpions were established through an act of Parliament, it was not for the executive to announce their dissolution.
Business Day wrote: "Without advancing a single coherent argument, the ruling party not only decides to get rid of a vanguard force in the fight against organised crime and corruption, it announces it to the world as a fact, as though Parliament simply does not exist.
"Is this the true heart of the ANC? Is this the essence of the movement we danced in the streets for in 1994?"
'Done and dusted'
The Citizen wrote that by making the announcement Nqakula considered it "already done and dusted, forgetting the small detail of the move having to be approved buy Parliament".
"The crime-fighting unit was created by an Act of Parliament and must be disbanded by majority vote."
The editorial continued: "So much for accountability by government, so much for oversight by those chosen to serve the interests of the people. And so much for consideration of the disapproval of many South Africans."
"The burning question is why would the ANC leadership want to disband the very unit it created, and which it now fears because of its success? How many more worms will be concealed in the woodwork with the Scorpions gone?"
The Sowetan wrote that Nqakula should explain why a unit he describes as having the best experience should be merged with another police unit - instead of both complementing each other.
"In the absence of such an explanation, the state's plan to phase out the Scorpions will be shrouded in suspicion that the crack unit had bitten too close to the bone in the way they pursued their work."
Taking out the sting
Beeld said that because the Scorpions were brought to life by Parliament, it was therefore Parliament's job to dissolve them, not Nqakula's.
"The minister's actions strengthen the perception that South Africa is now governed out of Luthuli House in Johannesburg - the seat of the ANC president (Jacob Zuma) - and not out of the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the seat of the president (Thabo Mbeki).
Beeld said it was the Zuma faction within the ANC that wanted to take the sting out of the Scorpions who had brought Zuma to court (for a forthcoming fraud and corruption trial).
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