legal battle for scorpions heats up 
02 April 2008

President Thabo Mbeki and the ministers of safety and security and of justice have indicated their intention to oppose an application by a Johannesburg businessman who is seeking to prevent the government from enacting legislation to dissolve the Scorpions ahead of its incorporation into the police.

However, the speaker of the National Assembly and the chairperson of the National Council of Provinces did not file any notice to oppose.  The party also resolved that the relevant legislative changes be effected as a matter of urgency. The move by the party has elicited strong condemnation from opposition parties, but Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula told Parliament in February that the Scorpions would be incorporated into the organised crime unit of the police service to form a new unit with the best skills on offer from both the Scorpions and the police.

In his affidavit to the Pretoria High Court last month, Hugh Glenister argued that the government’s plan to disband the Scorpions would not be rationally connected to a legitimate governmental purpose. He said it would also be a violation of the government’s constitutional obligations to initiate new legislation in a constitutionally admissible way and to uphold the rights of every South African to security.

The respondents in the case have 15 business days from March 27 to file answering affidavits, and Glenister would then have 10 days to file replying affidavits. The matter has been set down for 6th May 2008.

Glenister said he believed the public’s constitutional rights were being violated and that Parliament was being undermined by the ANC’s desire to destroy a functioning institution.
“In a press interview, Jacob Zuma declared that he was willing to ‘debate anything’ even the future of the Scorpions. I have accordingly written to Mr Zuma to again request a meeting to discuss the ANC’s plans to disband the unit,” Helen Zille said.

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Ernest Mabuza, www.businessday.co.za