It immediately piqued the public’s interest. The name of the organisation had a jocular schoolboyish ring, a fun moniker full of musketeering dash. One for all and all for one. But its business was serious, sometimes deadly so, as it chased down some of the worst of the criminal underworld or the venal politicians that multiplied so alarmingly in the new South Africa.

We are the Scorpions, they announced, if you’re a bad guy we’ll come after you. And they did.

But now the post of head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), under which the Scorpions fall, has been without a permanent head for six months, since Bulelani Ngcuka vacated it in July.

Appointed in 1998 as the first national director of Public Prosecutions, he was the man given the task of building the NPA into an effective prosecuting machine. He did this, perhaps too well, for as the NPA flourished under his leadership, he became for many the embodiment of the fearless crusader who would take on anyone who had transgressed the law, no matter how powerful.

He went after prominent businessmen like Billy Rautenbach and Dave King. He took on the well-connected like Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Tony Yengeni. Black, white, politician, it didn’t matter. And then came Jacob Zuma.

When Ngcuka announced that the deputy president would be investigated for his role in the arms deal, the country held its breath.

Some felt that in the maelstrom of South African politics you don’t tilt at the top dogs without sooner or later having your lance broken. No doubt they were not surprised when a year later Ngcuka announced his resignation. In between, we had the Hefer commission after Mo Shaik and Mac Maharaj alleged Ngcuka was an apartheid spy. Judge Joos Hefer found that there was no evidence to substantiate these claims, and Ngcuka seemed the only one to emerge from the battle with his dignity intact.

But did he lose the war? Or had he simply had enough?

Ngcuka is on record enough to conclude that he was tired of the pressures and demands of the job, and that he wasn’t pushed. But clearly, in this game, there is more than one way to push. If you’re in this seat you will make powerful enemies. Pressure, dirty tricks and underhand games go with the territory.

The post is a vital one in our young democracy, probably more important in the long run than whether Zuma was guilty of wrongdoing or Ngcuka erred in saying he had a prima facie case against the deputy president but didn’t think he could win it.

The question now is: what will become of the NPA?

Ngcuka will be a hard act to follow. In five years he built an organisation, starting with a small budget and demoralised officials resigning faster than a cocaine baron could launder money. Today, the NPA comprises the Directorate Special Operations (Scorpions), the Asset Forfeiture Unit, Specialised Commercial Crime Unit and other auxiliary units all working together and with the police, using new techniques and strategies to bust drug dealers, sex offenders, corrupt politicians and gang leaders.

Ngcuka’s first unfurnished office gave way to the hi-tech NPA headquarters in the Silverton, Pretoria building named for assassinated human rights lawyers Victoria and Griffiths Mxenge.

Ngcuka’s rise to prominence came at a time when most South Africans were recovering from the ravages of apartheid and its institutionalised corruption. It is hard to gauge to what extent he had the support of the public.

Certainly within the ANC there was a pro-Ngcuka camp and an anti-Ngcuka camp, and it is probably fair to surmise that the nation, particularly on the Zuma affair, was, and is, divided along similar lines.

When Ngcuka was appointed, opposition parties questioned his independence. They pointed to the three years he spent in jail for refusing to testify against comrades found guilty of treason. He was an ANC senator and deputy chairman of the National Council of Provinces. His wife would later become the influential minister of Minerals and Energy. How could he go after erstwhile comrades? But he did, and he did so successfully.

So where to now? The post is being filled temporarily by Advocate Silas Ramaite who is a senior counsel and served as one of Ngcuka’s four deputies. There are conflicting opinions on whether he is up to the job. The one view is that he is not tough enough; the other is that the people who hold the former view don’t like his tough approach. Clearly both can’t be right. Perhaps the only sound conclusion one can draw is that lobbying is in full swing.

The important question when judging Ramaite’s suitability for the job, or for that matter anyone who wants it, is whether they can take the punch when the ANC heavyweights start slugging. The post is not for incumbents with glass jaws.

The other three deputies are Leonard McCarthy, Jan Henning and Willie Hofmeyr. Former Limpopo Premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi’s name has also been mentioned but the Scorpions are currently investigating allegations of corruption in the provincial government while he was premier and the accompanying pall may be fatal to his chances.

As time ticks on without a permanent appointment being made, the cohesion of the Scorpions unravels and momentum is lost. Nature may abhor a vacuum, but not criminals and corrupt officials, especially if that vacuum is at the head of the National Prosecuting Authority.

One of the more pressing appointments President Thabo Mbeki has to make in the new year is the person who will fill the hot seat in Silverton — and to make it someone who will honour the ideals of the couple whose names grace the building.

With acknowledgement to the Sunday Times.