Scorpions-cops links 'broken'

2005-10-06 22:12

Pretoria - Tension between the Scorpions, the police and other parties at the Khampepe Commission here showed their relationship had "irretrievably" broken down, the justice department submitted on Thursday.

Advocate Dabi Khumalo, delivering a submission by Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla, said: "The lack of co-ordination between these agencies may undermine law enforcement, stability and security."

The tension uncovered at the hearings showed the relationship between the parties had broken down irretrievably.

The commission, headed by Judge Sisi Khampepe, is conducting public hearings into the future of the Scorpions, who operate as an elite crime-busting unit.

The Scorpions fall under the national prosecuting authority, as the directorate of special operations (DSO).

Unclear legislation about who controls the Scorpions' activity meant they were not accountable to anyone, the commission heard.

'What's the meaning of the mandate?'

Tension between the Scorpions and the South African Police Service arising from the DSO mandate is one of the issues under discussion at the commission.

Mementnzi Simelane, director-general of the justice department, asked: "The (Scorpions) mandate requires the keeping, gathering and analysing of information. What does that mean?"

"It does appear a distinction can be drawn between 'information' and 'intelligence'."

He said difficulties arose from this confusion about the Scorpions' intelligence functions because of unclear legislation.

This led to overlapping of work between the Scorpions and other law-enforcement agencies.

"When carrying out their mandate to investigate crime, you have people saying 'you have now moved into our terrain'," he said.

Scorpions 'not a police service'

Scorpions detectives conduct their investigations while liaising with NPA prosecutors.

Khumalo said the Scorpions had limited investigation capacity and limited resources, which meant they had to investigate the crimes in order of priority.

The crimes were serious and organised ones.

Khumalo said: "It is not a police service, it was formed with a specific purpose.

We know in terms of its mandate it overlaps with the functions and powers of the police."

He pointed out that the police crime mandate was all-encompassing while the Scorpions was limited and they had a discretion on which serious crimes to investigate.

Constitutional issues surrounding the formation of law-enforcement agencies outside the police, as well as under whose control they would fall, have been argued in submissions before the commission.

"In the same way that the president may establish additional investigative directorates, he can also recommend that the minister limit the areas of unlawful activities that the DSO may investigate," said Khumalo.

One weakness in systems for management, control and accountability was that while the national director of public prosecutions operated constitutionally under the justice minister, there was no obligation for the him to provide the minister with information unless it was at her request.

Start from the beginning

Khumalo said that, in an effort to determine the location of the Scorpions, the issue should be considered from the beginning, with all stakeholders establishing whether the reasons for the initial establishment of the organisation still existed today.

The national intelligence agency submitted on Wednesday that in the public's view, the formation of the Scorpions was a "radical intervention to address the perceived inefficiency of the SAPS".

The commission was appointed by President Thabo Mbeki in March to advise him on the future of the Scorpions.

Hearings will continue on Friday with more submissions.

- SAPA