MEDIA RELEASE - No Constitutional Requirement for Scorpions' Disbandment

MR STEVE SWART, MP,
ACDP - AFRICAN CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY 14th February 2008

ACDP TABLES PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION DEMANDING ANSWERS ON SCORPIONS * SAYS NO CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENT FOR DISBANDMENT.
ACDP looks forward to Scorpions Annual Report in Parliament.
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ACDP, MP and Spokesperson on Justice and Constitutional matters, Steve Swart, this morning formally tabled a Parliamentary question to be answered by the Minister of Safety and Security on Wednesday 27th February 2008, requesting the constitutional basis that the Minister relies upon for justifying the decision to disband the Scorpions.

“The Minister has argued that the reason why Cabinet decided to disband the Scorpions and incorporate it into the SAPS was that the Constitution required that there must be “a single police force”. This argument was rejected by the Constitutional Court in 2002 as well as the Khampepe Commission (relying on that Constitutional Court judgment), the report of which was accepted by Cabinet in June 2006.

It is patently clear that the decision to disband the Scorpions is not based on any constitutional requirement, but rather on a political decision to rid South Africa of a very effective crime-fighting unit that has embarrassed the ruling party by investigating and convicting high profile leaders.

The Minister’s most recent explanation that the merging of the Scorpions into a new unit in the SAPS in order to “change for the better” the fight against organized crime, is outrageous given that their present success rate is over 80%. Furthermore, how would the investigation into National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi have been conducted had it not been that the Scorpions were located outside the police service? This is particularly so, following the heavy-handed arrest and spurious charges brought by the SAPS against Scorpions Gauteng boss, Adv. Gerrie Nel, in an obvious attempt to derail the Selebi investigation.

The Minister must explain whether he persists with the “single police force” constitutional argument and if not, what is the basis for this reckless decision.

The ACDP is determined to hold the Executive to account for this decision, notwithstanding that the majority party has effectively ignored Parliament by announcing the disbanding of the Scorpions as a fait accompli.

The ACDP, together with other parties, will be exercising its oversight function next week when the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) presents its annual report on Wednesday 20th February, in the Justice Portfolio Committee. The ACDP, when it raised the matter in the Justice Portfolio Committee yesterday, was given the assurance that the Scorpions would be present, albeit reporting under the NPA.

All indications are that the glowing success of the combination of prosecutor and investigator, which is the Scorpions, will be shown to have continued in the past financial year and this is sure to further highlight the criminal foolishness of the decision.”