/ 14 January 2008

Nel arrest ‘an unwarranted waste of manpower’

The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday asked the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) to investigate the arrest of Gauteng Scorpions boss Gerrie Nel.

This came after charges of corruption and defeating the administration of justice against Nel were withdrawn in the Pretoria Regional Court.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) said that the withdrawal of the charges crowned a string of very disturbing developments in the criminal justice system.

The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) — in its reaction — said the case was proof that police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi used the police for a witch-hunt and intimidation of the National Prosecuting Authority.

”This was an unwarranted waste of police manpower that could have been used to fight crime in general and specifically on the streets, rather than trying to promote Selebi’s interests,” the FF+’s Pieter Groenewald said.

In a letter sent by DA spokesperson for safety and security Dianne Kohler Barnard to the acting executive director of the ICD, Patrick Mongwe, she said it was of ”national significance” that the incident be thoroughly investigated.

In a media statement, Kohler Barnard said it appeared as if the police wanted to show the Scorpions who was in control.

”Sending in 20 armed [police] members could serve no other purpose, as Nel’s appearance in court could have been secured through a simple phone call, thus treating him with the respect he was due,” she said, referring to the manner in which Nel was arrested.

The DA said the ICD should establish who ordered the warrant to be served and why.

It also wanted the allegation investigated that Nel’s cellphone was taken away and switched off to prevent him from making contact with his lawyer.

The SACP said the government bore some responsibility — adding that Nel’s case was only one of many disturbing developments in the criminal justice system

”It is now clear to us as the SACP that our government bears enormous responsibility for such a state of affairs, and that it therefore requires urgent attention,” the party said.

The SACP said it would call on the African National Congress’s national executive committee — scheduled to meet over the weekend — to look at the state of the country’s criminal justice system and discuss possible interventions.

It also believed that Parliament should intervene.

”The highly unsatisfactory state of our criminal justice system poses one of the most serious threats to our democracy, threatening to erode the confidence of our people in these institutions, making them even more liable to abuse by those in powerful positions and susceptible to infiltration by all kinds of elements with different agendas, including political agendas,” the party said.

”More seriously, this may undermine the capacity of this system to fight the scourge of crime plaguing our country.”

There was clearly a ”very disturbing, if not dirty” turf war between the Scorpions and the police, the party said.

”This underlines the correctness of the [tripartite] alliance stance that one police force must be created and that the Scorpions must be urgently incorporated into the South African Police Service,” it added. — Sapa