The African National Congress (ANC) on Tuesday accused the Democratic Alliance (DA) of a persistent hatred towards it following a meeting between the parties on the future of the Scorpions.
”The only thing the DA and the Scorpions have in common is their persistent hatred of the ANC,” ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said.
”That hatred of the ANC is a common thing,” he said, calling the DA a party of ”recycled National Party members”.
He said that while the two parties agreed on the goal of fighting crime, they disagreed on the mechanics.
Mantashe said the Scorpions contained apartheid security-branch members who were targeting their erstwhile enemies, the ANC.
He found it strange that the DA did not think it was an abuse of power to take eight years to prosecute its president, Jacob Zuma, for alleged corruption, but made plea-bargain agreements with Brett Kebble murder accused Glenn Agliotti.
”For the DA there is nothing strange about a case that dragged on for eight years. I think that is strange.”
DA leader Helen Zille said that a market survey showed that most South Africans wanted the Scorpions retained within the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, to which Mantashe retorted: ”I don’t think anybody has anointed Helen Zille to be spokesperson for South Africa.”
Parliament is currently working on a Bill to remove the Scorpions from the National Prosecuting Authority and restructure them within the police following a resolution at the ANC’s national conference in December. — Sapa