Publication: Pretoria News Issued: Date: 2005-08-19 Reporter: Angela Quintal Reporter:

Cops, Scorpions Rivalry Met With Tight Lips

 

Publication 

Pretoria News
Date

2005-08-19

Reporter

Angela Quintal

Web Link

www.pretorianews.co.za

 

A stand-off between police protecting South Africa's VIPs and the Scorpions played out in full glare of journalists yesterday, but as far as the government and law enforcement authorities were concerned it was more prudent not to comment.

The Scorpions, knowing that their future is on the line and that they are the subject of a one-woman commission of inquiry, tried to downplay the episode saying media reports were "not accurate".

Repeated attempts to get comment from the police, the Justice Minister who is responsible for the Scorpions, the Safety and Security Minister who is in charge of the police and VIP protection unit, drew a blank.

Even government spokesmen tried to pass the buck.

So what if it appeared that the police were obstructing the ends of justice, or were interfering with the lawful execution of a search warrant, no one seemed to think the South African public deserved an explanation.

But the silence in itself was indicative of how "sensitive" the matter is and that when the chips are down South Africa's politicians appear not to have the balls to take the public or the media into their confidence.

Of course it did not help that at the centre of it all was the country's former deputy president, who is in fact entitled to some form of VIP protection at taxpayers' expense, just like former Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi as well as former apartheid-era presidents and even their widows.

Whether this entitles his bodyguards to behave as they did is another matter Maybe someone in authority will explain that today.

As far back as 2003, President Mbeki said there was an inherent structural tension between the Scorpions who fall under the National Prosecuting Authority and answer to the Justice Minister and the police, accountable to the Safety and Security Minister.

Jealousy and petty rivalry between the Scorpions and the police played out daily. It even divided the Cabinet with then Justice Minister Penuell Maduna and Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula on opposing sides, with National Commissioner Jackie Selebi also insisting, like his political head Nqakula, that the Scorpions should be part of the police.

As the Scorpions turned the screws on several high profile politicians and ANC the heat was on.

A ministerial committee with oversight of the Scorpions set up under the NPA appeared not to get very far.

It recommended that the President appoint a commission of inquiry.

In an interview in February, Mbeki said that in reality the Scorpions constituted a police unit.

Questions that needed to be answered were whether a police unit that fell under the sway of prosecutors worked well, and what its relationship with the SAPS and intelligence services should be.

The commission would have to look at the "totality of matters" and then recommend the best way to forward.

Enter Judge Sisi Khampepe, the woman, who now holds the fate of the Scorpions in her hands.

After calling for written submissions, Judge Khampepe submitted an interim report to the President last month.

Yesterday, she was in London and was also expected to travel to Washington, on a fact-finding visit to various law enforcement agencies, her spokesman, Kaizer Kganyago, said.

When the judge returned to South Africa, hearings would be held, some of which, depending on the sensitivity of the issues, could be held in public.

At this stage it would be too early to say when a final report would be made, Kganyago said.

Given the Scorpions' previous PR disasters and the high-profile campaign against the FBI-style agency, there can be little doubt where the majority of South Africans sympathies might lie.

And when the public wakes up to the fact that they also raided South Africa's highest offices in the Union Buildings yesterday – an unprecedented move – there will be those who will not be celebrating the strength of our democracy and that no one is above the law, but will want the Scorpions to go.

With acknowledgements to Angela Quintal and the Pretoria News.