The Directorate of Special Operations — the ”Scorpions” — will remain within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which will continue to report to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.
But political oversight of what the Scorpions’ ”law enforcement responsibilities” will include, moves to the Minister of Safety and Security.
National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi has strongly advocated the absorption of the elite unit into the South African Police Service.
This was announced at Thursday’s Cabinet briefing on the recommendations of Khampepe Commission of Inquiry into the future mandate and structure of the Scorpions. The elite crime-fighting unit has been at the centre of controversy over allegations that it was pursuing politically inspired investigations, and question marks hang over its continued existence parallel with the South African Police Service.
In May, Judge Sisi Khampepe handed her report to President Thabo Mbeki, who referred her recommendations to the National Security Council for advice.
The commission found that the rationale for establishing the Scorpions remained valid — essentially to pursue prosecution-guided investigation of high-level priority crimes. Judge Khampepe also found that the legal framework currently regulating the mandate and location of the Scorpions was not in conflict with the Constitution — as long as the independence of prosecutorial decisions was safeguarded.
According to a Cabinet statement, the commission found that the minister of justice and constitutional development did not have ”practical and effective” oversight in respect of the Scorpions’ law enforcement functions. But the statement is vague about how, in practice, oversight will be exercised by the minister of safety and security.
The Cabinet has accepted the recommendations ”in principle”, but announced that the directors general within the security cluster, working together with the Department of Public Service and Administration, would develop proposals on how to implement the transfer of partial oversight to the minister of safety and security.
The Cabinet announced a separate inquiry into the ”proper rationalisation of resources” between the various law-enforcement and intelligence agencies, which the commission had excluded from its mandate because of a ”lack of expertise”.
Judge Khampepe recommended that the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), which tackles complaints about police conduct, should be empowered to investigate any alleged infractions arising from the law enforcement actions of the Scorpions. Currently the ICD mandate excludes them.
Judge Khampepe also recommended that the ministerial coordinating committee (MCC) — representing the Cabinet security portfolios — should be bolstered. The MCC is supposed to review policy affecting the Scorpions and resolve turf battles.
A more controversial recommendation is the establishment of a coordinating committee of officials that would support and advise the MCC, and that this committee ”ought to have relevant individuals at the appropriate levels of authority who are able to deal with operational issues”.