business backs scorpions
18 February 2008

Business Against Crime South Africa (BACSA) is fundamentally opposed to proposals to disband the Scorpions. "Parliament's debate of his [President Thabo Mbeki's] State of the Nation speech indicated that what is intended is not the disbanding of the Scorpions, but their restructuring",  Bacsa said in a statement.

It said the independent status of the body had been key to its ability to help detect and prosecute high level individuals without fear or favour. Safety and Security Minister Charles Ngakula told parliament: "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." Bacsa said, the "test" of whether changes to the Scorpions would affect the country's ability to combat organised crime were "objective ones".

First, does the unit retain the range of skills, prosecutorial, investigative and other that it presently possesses?

Second, is it able to operate as a cohesive unit, not dependent on either authority or resources from others?

Third, would it have the independence, capacity and opportunity to investigate corruption and crime in echelons of society and government, right up to the most senior officials and ministers in government, including those in the criminal justice system?

The organisation said replacing the Scorpions with a less independent body would undermine the redesign of the criminal justice system agreed upon by Parliament in November last year.

It said the Scorpions had a "significant track record of achievement" and had been a "critical and effective weapon" in the fight against crime, "though their methods have not always been above reproach".

Sapa,  http://business.iafrica.com