Singing at Scorpions hearings

2008-08-12 13:10

Durban - Singing and toyi-toying marked the start of the public hearings on the disbanding of the Scorpions in Durban on Tuesday.

A heavy police presence was visible at the Umlazi Indoor Sports Complex where the hearings were due to kick off at 10:00.

However, by 10:30 a crowd of about 80 Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) supporters had gathered outside the building before entering the complex singing.

Many of the crowd wore shirts bearing logos of Cosatu's various member unions, while some wore shirts in support of African National Congress president Jacob Zuma.

At one stage the crowd broke into Zuma's trademark "awulethu umshini wami" song, taunting local Democratic Alliance supporters who had also turned up for the hearing.

Parliament's portfolio committees on justice and constitutional development, and safety and security were holding the hearings, which started on Monday and were expected to finish on Friday.

They concerned the possible replacement of the Directorate of Special Operations, known as the Scorpions, with a new division within the South African Police Service, known as the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation.

Members of the public had until August 20 to hand in their written submissions against the disbanding.

- SAPA