No question of unit being shut down'

President Thabo Mbeki has had to intervene in talks on the future of the Scorpions investigating unit to quell tension between the SA Police Service and the National Prosecuting Authority over the issue.

Tension between the police and the Scorpions has come at a delicate time when the Scorpions are involved in a series of highprofile cases.

Mbeki said at a media briefing yesterday that there was no question of the Scorpions being shut down. Any attempt to move the Scorpions could be seen as an attempt to curtail its powers.

"The question is around the location of the Scorpions." He had spoken to national police commissioner Jackie Selebi and prosecutions head Bulelani Ngcuka about this issue.

The president said there was inherent tension in the current location of the Scorpions, which fell under Ngcuka. The police service was the policing authority, yet the Scorpions, effectively a police unit, sat under the National Prosecuting Authority.

"We have to deal with this. It has resulted, occasionally, in tension," said Mbeki.

The tension was not, however, between Selebi and Ngcuka, but rather the result of a structural institutional issue.

The rationale for setting up the Scorpions under the prosecuting authority was that the Scorpions did not undertake general police investigations, but instead dealt with cases of a larger and more specialised nature.

Senior members of the Scorpions have in the past indicated they are not uncomfortable with the present arrangement, despite some difficulties arising.

Their argument was that the two investigating entities tended to act as checks on each other, and tended to urge each other on.

In some situations, the Scorpions had also worked very successfully with the local police.

Mbeki said it was, however, impossible to have two police services at national level, leading to talks about where to locate the Scorpions. Officials said this could include incorporating it in the police service or establishing it as a stand-alone, specialised police unit.

The president stressed that discussion on the location of the Scorpions had been under way for several years.

Meanwhile, political parties commented yesterday on aspects of the Scorpions investigation into the controversial arms deal.

Democratic Alliance MP Raenette Taljaard called on Deputy President Jacob Zuma to place himself on special leave following the Scorpions' decision to send him a set of questions about his relationship with Durban businessman Schabir Shaik.

"Mbeki must request him to step down pending the outcome of the criminal investigation being conducted by the Scorpions," said Taljaard.

The SA Communist Party condemned the leaking of questions sent by the Scorpions to Zuma.

With acknowledgements to Robyn Chalmers, Tim Cohen and the Business Day.