Confusion over SAPS, Scorpions integration

Confusion and uncertainty surround government’s proposals for merging the Scorpions with the police organised crime units — under South African Police Service control.

Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula told Parliament on Tuesday: ‘The Scorpions will be dissolved and the organised crime unit of the police will be phased out and a new amalgamated unit will be created.”

This would merge the ‘best experience” of the Scorpions and the police’s unit under the aegis of a ‘single command and control point”.

This accords with information received by the Mail & Guardian two weeks ago suggesting that the new unit would fall under the control of key members of the Crime Intelligence Service (CIS).

A source spoke about three former members of the apartheid-era security police, who were tipped to take operational control of the new unit. They were named as Mark Henkel, Willem Els and Andre Roos. They were said to be taking over, respectively, as head of analysis, head of investigations and head of operations.

The SAPS refused to comment on plans for the restructuring, but the M&G has established that the three were recently promoted to the rank of assistant commissioner, with six others from the CIS division.

A former top policeman said he saw Roos and Els in action during the turbulent Eighties. He said they were at the forefront of heavy-handed security branch action and closely associated with the dirty tricks squad, C10.

Roos received amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for involvement in the so-called Zero-Zero Hour incident, during which ANC activists were killed when ‘turned” MK operatives supplied the activists with ‘zero-timed” grenades and limpet mines.

He also received amnesty for organising an attack on two activists’ houses in Tembisa.

However, another senior officer from police headquarters dismissed speculation that the Scorpions would be incorporated with current crime intelligence structures ‘or fall under Els and Roos”.

‘You’re barking up the wrong tree if you think that is going to happen. At this stage it will make perfect sense to put the Scorpions with the commercial crime and organised crime units because the Scorpions have some of the most experienced investigators. But there is absolutely no certainty about this.

‘There are those who believe the Scorpions should be placed at station level in those areas seriously battling with high murder rates. If they’re so good, send them to Khayelitsha and Nyanga — having the highest murder rate in the country — and let them solve the problems,” he said.

The most immediate problem facing any integration process was the different salary scales of the Scorpions and the police, he said. ‘The Scorpions are being paid much more than the cops — do you cut the Scorpions’ salaries or increase the cops’ salaries? We have a long way to go before any integration.”

But the M&G understands that ‘only a handful” of Scorpions investigators, most of them former police officers, are willing to go back to the SAPS.

‘The majority of members are looking for other jobs in government or in the private sector. Remember that a great number of Scorpions never worked for the police before,” said a National Prosecuting Authority source.

Another source claimed Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy had secured a post in Belgium.

Scorpions who are willing to join the SAPS are not certain how they will be deployed. Members told the M&G they would be happy to continue doing the same kind of work while earning the same salaries, but they were doubtful this would happen.

‘You can’t just tell a guy who has been investigating complex fraud that he is now working on the Russian mafia,” a Scorpion said. ‘And how will you explain to a police captain, working next to a former Scorpion in this new unit, that he is earning three times less than the Scorpions guy?”

It is expected that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the South African Revenue Service (Sars) will aggressively recruit the top Scorpions investigators, while private audit and investigations firms might also try to catch the best.

The Public Servants’ Association (PSA), which represents about 200 Scorpions, is still waiting for an answer from justice department Director General Menzi Simelane about a possible change in its members’ working conditions.

PSA deputy general manager Manie de Clercq told the M&G it was ‘in limbo”, but its view of the situation stayed firm. ‘If they unilaterally take away from your rights and benefits, we will institute action.”