The commission appointed by President Thabo Mbeki to probe the future of the Scorpions is set to begin work in earnest.
Judge Sisi Khampepe, appointed in March to head the commission, on Thursday issued a call for submissions by way of sworn affidavit. Submissions must reach the commission by June 17 2005 and must identify confidential or classified elements in the representations and must have those ”sealed and dispatched accordingly”.
The commission may later require any person to appear before it in order to give oral evidence on any aspect of the terms of reference if requested to do so. No decision has been made yet as to whether hearings will be held in public.
The terms of reference were published at the beginning of April and call on the commission to inquire into and make recommendations on ”the mandate and location of the Directorate of Special Operations [DSO]”.
The commission is expected to report to the president within three months.
The detailed mandate calls on the commission to report on, among other things:
• the rationale behind the establishment of the DSO and its location within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA);
• the mandate of the DSO and an evaluation of the implementation thereof;
• the systems for management, control, communication, oversight and accountability by the DSO;
• the accountability, effectiveness, efficiency and oversight in respect of the intelligence operations of the DSO;
• the systems for coordination and cooperation between the police and the intelligence agencies on the one hand and the DSO on the other; and
• the impact of locating investigators and prosecutors within the NPA.
Judge Khampepe is to make recommendations on remedial actions, if any, to address deficiencies identified and on various options regarding the suitable location of the DSO, including the appropriate legislative framework.
The Scorpions have begun to collate their own submissions and believe that concerns at the DSO over perceived conflict of interests on the part of the judge have receded.