2005-10-11,+Scorpions,+Should+they+stay+or+go,+M+and+G

= Scorpions: Should they stay or go? =


 * Fran Blandy, Pretoria, South Africa**
 * Mail & Guardian Online, Johannesburg,10 October 2005 04:41**

Contrasting arguments on the future of the Scorpions were submitted by a police union and the Democratic Alliance at the Khampepe commission in Pretoria on Monday.

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) told the commission: "The need for the Scorpions no longer exists and they should be transferred to the police."

However, DA justice spokesperson Sheila Camerer submitted that with the increasing crime rate, continued independence of the Scorpions is critical.

"Existing problems should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, not by simply throwing the baby out with the bath water," she said.

The commission, headed by Judge Sisi Khampepe, is deciding whether the Scorpions -- who conduct prosecution-led investigations -- should be incorporated into the South African Police Service (SAPS) or remain part of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), as its Directorate of Special Operations (DSO).

Popcru's deputy general secretary, Nkosinathi Theledi, argued that the SAPS has undergone serious transformation and now has 26 specialised organised-crime units.

He said police also have the skills, trained investigators and forensics experts to deal with the crimes the Scorpions dealt with.

Camerer told the commission that the elite crime-busting unit strengthens the fight against crime, having achieved a conviction rate higher than 90% in comparison to an 8% conviction rate by the police's serious and violent-crimes units.

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla last week intimated the crime level had dropped sufficiently to do away with the Scorpions.

Camerer disagreed, presenting to Khampepe a report by the Institute for Security Studies made in the United States in May, which showed all types of crime had gone up.

Higher salaries While the SAPS last week argued that their skills were sufficient to deal with the crime load, Camerer said higher salary scales enable the Scorpions to attract and retain a number of skilled people.

Theledi said this turn of events was not intended by President Thabo Mbeki or legislation.

"The flight of skills from the SAPS to the DSO was simply a transportation of an existing skill base with no added value.

"These members were attracted by its favourable working conditions -- depleting the capacity of the SAPS and other law-enforcement agencies."

However, since then the DSO has not embarked on proper training and is now losing members because of its reliance on consultants.

"[The] DSO outsources most of its functions, such as forensic investigations, to consultants at astronomical costs," he said.

This is untenable, as it results in a "skills drain" and is not economically viable.

Popcru went on to accuse the NPA of referring to the DSO those cases likely to produce a successful prosecution.

"Upon closer scrutiny, the DSO's cases are not necessarily more complicated, they just have better resources to do the same amount of work as other agencies," Theledi said.

He recommended that the Scorpions' intelligence and investigative capacity be relocated under the police.

Camerer said that tensions between Scorpions and other law-enforcement agencies can be traced back to executive failure by the coordinating ministerial committee.

The committee has only met six times in 16 months and did not meet once for the preceding four years.

The commission opened on Monday with complaints by George Bizos, for the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), about confidential information leaked to two Sunday newspapers.
 * Information leak**

The NIA had submitted an unsigned document containing the information to the commission, but had later withdrawn it as it did not comply with the commission's rules. It was not returned to the NIA.

"I will not brook any breach of confidentiality," reacted Khampepe. "The integrity of this process is dependent on maintaining confidentiality at the highest level."

Khampepe later ordered the DA to excise a portion of its submission that constituted political commentary and opinion.

The submission from the Scorpions, which was expected on Monday, is now to take place on Tuesday after a submission by the joint standing committee on intelligence. -- Sapa

From: http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=253295&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/