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Scorpions' skills retained
14/02/2008 21:40 - (SA)
Cape Town - The specialist skills of the Scorpions will be retained in the new organised crime unit to be established, President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday.
Replying to debate in the National Assembly on his State Of The Nation Address, Mbeki emphasised the review of the criminal justice system was intended to further improve the response to crime.
The review process included an investigation of the overall capacity of the state to fight organised crime, with reference to intelligence, investigations and other matters.
"Obviously, this included an assessment of all matters relating to the Directorate of Special Operations, the Scorpions.
"We were assisted in this regard by the findings and recommendations of the Khampepe Judicial Commission," he said.
The decision the government had taken was to retain and expand the specialised skills focused on organised crime which existed in the Scorpions and other institutions in the criminal justice system.
"The government has also taken the firm decision that all reforms we institute in this regard must be informed by the unwavering determination to ensure that we strengthen the capacity of our law enforcement agencies to intensify the war against organised crime, and under no circumstances to weaken it," Mbeki said.
Under one roof
The government had also reaffirmed its commitment to meet its international obligations in this regard, fully conscious of the fact that significant and highly dangerous elements of organised crime were, in fact, transnational.
"We have therefore decided to bring the specialised investigative skills focused on organised crime under one roof in a specialised unit that will have more personnel and capacity than currently exists in the Scorpions.
"This personnel will be drawn from both the Scorpions and the Organised Crime Unit of the SAPS, and perhaps other institutions in our system of governance."
The proposal regarding the reorganised structures which government would table in Parliament would therefore cover more than the Scorpions.
They would also address the important issue of the relationship between the reconstituted specialist institution to fight organised crime on one hand, and the intelligence establishment on the other, including the National Intelligence Agency, the National Communications Centre, the Financial Intelligence Centre and the South African Secret Service, as well as Customs.
The new specialist institution to fight organised crime would serve as a referral body, enabling it to focus on the most complicated and the most pernicious instances of organised crime that would be referred to it by other formations in the criminal justice system, thus to play exactly the same role for which the Scorpions were established.
No negative effect on salaries
"This specialist unit will continue to be guided and assisted by the skills that reside among members of the National Prosecuting Authority and our intelligence service, ensuring that its operations are both prosecution and intelligence driven, to continue the history of the high conviction rate of the Scorpions," Mbeki said.
The reorganisation would not entail any negative effect on the salaries and conditions of service of the current members of the DSO.
"At the time that we approach Parliament to seek its view and agreement with the proposals we will make, we will also release the recommendations of the Khampepe Judicial Commission to enable the Hon Members and the country the better to understand the overall context within which we must address the specific challenge of intensifying the fight against organised crime," Mbeki said.
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