Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula has denied that the Scorpions are under review.

This comes amid the uproar that greeted suggestions that the elite investigating unit may be scrapped or absorbed into the South African Police Service.

Nqakula said there was no intention to close down the unit and that comments by Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi this week had been misunderstood.

He said the issue of jurisdiction had been discussed, but there was no formal investigation into the unit .

The minister said the justice department would draw up a memorandum on the matter, which would then be discussed by the cabinet.

"The matter has already been discussed by cabinet at length and we want to take the matter back to them to discuss the original mandate given to the Scorpions," the minister said.

"This is how the mandate could be redefined to include specific responsibilities as they relate to investigations, so we do not have a situation where the Scorpions are investigating the same thing as the police."

The cabinet would decide the way forward, which might involve making changes to the National Prosecuting Act, which gave effect to the Directorate of Special Investigations, or the Scorpions.

The minister's spokesman, Leslie Xinwa, said evaluations of this kind were common in the public sector and had nothing to do with comments by President Thabo Mbeki last week, in which he called for an end to the tension between the police and the Scorpions over jurisdiction.

The unit, which falls under the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions, which in turn reports to the justice department, came under fire this week for alleged leaks to the media about investigations linked to the arms deal probe with regard to Deputy President Jacob Zuma and former transport minister Mac Maharaj.

Bulelani Ngcuka, the head of the directorate, has also accused people of launching a smear campaign to discredit the unit.

Political parties, outraged by news of the review, came out in support of the unit, with New National Party spokesman Adriaan van Jaarsveld saying that the Scorpions should stay an elite investigation unit.

The Democratic Alliance's Sheila Camerer said government should leave the Scorpions to get on with their job and address local policing, the prosecution service and the court system .

Meanwhile, the Scorpions recently lost Gerda Ferreira, the head of its team investigating the arms deal.

She will be joining Nedcor as the head of forensics and corporate investigation.

With acknowledgements to Chantelle Benjamin, Tim Cohen and the Business Day.