Scorpions detectives belonged in the police and prosecutors with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), a commission of inquiry heard on Wednesday.
South African Police Service (SAPS) advocate Philip Jacobs said prosecutors should remain true to their role while investigators have to fall under the command and control of the police.
”The SAPS does not have a problem with the co-location of investigators and prosecutors as part of a multidisciplinary task team on a specific investigation,” he said in Pretoria.
”But the prosecutor must remain true to his role and fall under the NPA, while investigators remain under the command and control of the police.”
The commission, headed by Judge Sisi Khampepe, is conducting public hearings into the future of the Scorpions, which operates as an elite crime-busting unit.
It current falls under the NPA, as the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO). Scorpions detectives conduct their investigations hand-in-hand with NPA prosecutors.
Jacobs said taking into account the history of the DSO and the factors leading to its establishment, the unit was clearly intended as a temporary measure.
He said the SAPS is a highly professional service and a world leader in various areas of policing that uses an approach that is much broader than the DSO’s troika approach.
He argued that the skills and technology available to the SAPS are by no means inferior to those of the DSO.
”In respect of technology, the SAPS is equipped with equipment which rates among the best for forensic investigations, including ballistics, fingerprint ID and surveillance.”
Wherever the DSO is located, it will need the support of criminal records, forensic-science services and holding cells, he said.
‘Constitutional problem’
The SAPS contended that there is a constitutional problem in terms of establishing the DSO under the NPA, as it does not have a constitutional responsibility in respect of the investigation of crime or intelligence.
Crime operations and investigations also need to be coordinated.
It has happened that the SAPS had suspects who were at the same time witnesses for the DSO.
”Undercover operations are conducted at high costs and run the risk to be exposed in view of a lack of coordination,” Jacobs said.
The DSO being neither a police service nor an intelligence service makes it impossible to simply transform it into a ”security service” to remedy existing constitutional problems.
Earlier, Khampepe ruled that the hearings be open to the public after a submission by Jacobs that certain discussions be held in camera.
”I am unpersuaded that compelling reasons have been advanced to me by [the SAPS] for the exclusion of members of the general public at these hearings,” Khampepe said.
‘Upsetting the apple cart’
George Bizos, counsel for the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), said the constitutional section providing for a single police service is often used as justification for the disbanding of the DSO.
However, the word ”single” in the Constitution does not mean to ”the exclusion of all others”, he said.
Bizos argued that there is no provision in the Constitution preventing the existence of a force such as the DSO outside of SAPS command.
The NIA holds that disbanding the DSO will negatively affect the synergy of skills within the organisation that could be employed in the effective combating of crime.
”The wisdom of upsetting the apple cart must be taken into serious consideration,” Bizos said.
Bizos called for the DSO’s mandate to be amended instead. This should be aimed at improving its relations with other crime-fighting structures.
The commission was appointed by President Thabo Mbeki in March to advise him on the future of the Scorpions.
Hearings will continue on Thursday. — Sapa