The Directorate of Special Operations, or the Scorpions as it is better known, will remain within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), but political oversight will move to the Minister of Safety and Security.
Director General in the Presidency Frank Chikane said on Thursday that Cabinet made the decision on Wednesday after studying the Khampepe Commission’s report on the matter.
President Thabo Mbeki appointed the commission, headed by Judge Sisi Khampepe, to probe the rationale for establishing the Scorpions and placing it in the NPA. Khampepe also had to look into the relationship between the South African Police Service, intelligence agencies and the Scorpions.
Khampepe found that although there was no constitutional clash with the Scorpions falling under the NPA, political oversight should be moved from the Minister of Justice to the Minister of Safety and Security.
Cabinet approved this recommendation.
Contrasting views
There had been divergent views on whether the Scorpions needed to be retained. Contrasting arguments on the future of the Scorpions were submitted by a police union and the Democratic Alliance to the Khampepe commission in October last year.
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) had told the commission: ”The need for the Scorpions no longer exists and they should be transferred to the police.”
However, DA justice spokesperson Sheila Camerer at the time submitted that with the increasing crime rate, continued independence of the Scorpions was critical.
”Existing problems should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, not by simply throwing the baby out with the bath water,” she said.
Popcru’s deputy general secretary, Nkosinathi Theledi, argued that the SAPS had undergone serious transformation and had 26 specialised organised-crime units.
He said at the time that police also had the skills, trained investigators and forensics experts to deal with the crimes the Scorpions dealt with.
Camerer told the commission that the elite crime-busting unit strengthened the fight against crime, having achieved a conviction rate higher than 90% in comparison to an 8% conviction rate by the police’s serious and violent-crimes units.
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla had intimated the crime level had dropped sufficiently to do away with the Scorpions. But Camerer disagreed, presenting to Khampepe a report by the Institute for Security Studies made in the United States in May, which showed all types of crime had gone up. — Sapa