Quo vadis the Scorpions?

There is probably no state institution more tied to the fortunes of Jacob Zuma than the Scorpions — or, to give them their formal name: the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) Directorate of Special Operations (DSO).

Zuma’s political destiny lies in the hands of NPA boss Vusi Pikoli and his DSO investigators. There is every indication that new charges will be brought against the ANC deputy president if the outcome of the Schabir Shaik appeal is favourable to the state.

In turn, Zuma backers have made it clear they believe the DSO is a tool of their political enemies and should be disbanded, or brought under the control of the South African Police Service, meaning that a political victory for the Zuma camp would spell the death of the Scorpions unit as we know it.

The demand for the Scorpions to be incorporated in the police is an ironic one: the organisation’s founding motivation, expressed in President Thabo Mbeki’s opening address to Parliament in 1999, was to create ‘a special and adequately staffed and equipped investigation unit — to deal with all national priority crimes, including police corruption”.

The need for some elite unit to ‘guard the guards” was apparent then and is, if anything, more acute now.

The political guardians of our democracy seem all too frequently seduced by the lure of personal enrichment, while corruption has penetrated the criminal justice system.

The question as to whether this ­praetorian unit has itself been abused, for political or other ends, is moot.

There is a case to answer or, rather, there are a number of cases that require answers.

To name but a few: the other legs of the arms deal investigation; the probe into Mzi Khumalo’s billion-rand tango with Harmony Gold; the R100-million sweetener Denel paid the Saudis for a contract that never happened.

The allegations of ‘selective investigation” simply strengthen the argument for maintaining ­separate law enforcement institutions so they can keep an eye on each other. The confrontation with the Zuma machine has taken its toll on the Scorpions, yet proclamations of their demise have been greatly ­exaggerated.

Some two years ago, Moe Shaik was predicting the unit would be gone by New Year. It is still around, despite the clumsy recommendations of the Khampepe commission.

The atmosphere of intrigue also led to a culture of internal witch-hunts and probes that has distracted the institution from its stated goals. In the past year since Zuma was charged, the institution has sometimes appeared to act according to the myth associated with its namesake: stinging itself when cornered.

A series of largely self-inflicted setbacks in the Zuma investigation culminated in the case against him being struck from the roll with an embarrassing rebuke from the ­presiding judge.

Yet, notwithstanding the celebrations of Zuma’s supporters, this probably marked the high point of their campaign with regard to the DSO.

That decision has taken a good deal of the pressure off the Scorpions and deprived Zuma of a rallying point and a platform. The NPA will not rush to re-charge him before it has all its legal ducks in a row.

While it is never wise to predict the outcome of a court judgement, even those sympathetic to Zuma’s cause appeared to think Schabir Shaik would be hard-pressed to succeed in his appeal against his conviction in relation to a ‘generally corrupt relationship” with Zuma. Even if the Supreme Court of Appeals throws out the ‘encrypted fax” as evidence against Shaik, it will also clarify exactly the hurdles state evidence will have to clear to render it admissible against Zuma.

It seems likely, also, that the ­various appeals regarding the ­Scorpions’ contested search and ­seizure operations against Zuma and his associates will be consolidated into one case to be argued at the appeals court. The NPA may well choose to await the outcome of this process before renewing charges against Zuma.

The Zuma campaign has resulted in tectonic shifts. South Africa has been liberated from President Thabo Mbeki’s hegemony, but the brash nature of the campaign may have had the effect of starting to consolidate the powerful vested interests ranged against him.

For Zuma there may yet be a sting in this tale.