With ANC at war over elite unit, President makes last effort to preserve it

President Thabo Mbeki and his deputy, Jacob Zuma, are fighting a battle behind the scenes over the future of the Scorpions, the elite investigating unit.

The Sunday Times has established that Zuma and most top ANC officials want the unit to be disbanded or made a division of the police under the Safety and Security Minister, Charles Nqakula, and Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi.

They have been stung by a series of embarrassing cases in which ANC heavyweights, from Zuma himself to former Chief Whip Tony Yengeni and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, have been investigated or prosecuted by the Scorpions.

This week the Scorpions began prosecuting 23 MPs, mostly from the ANC, on charges of using travel vouchers fraudulently.

But Mbeki is said by presidency insiders to favour leaving the unit's investigators to work independently of the police under Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla, following a model borrowed from the US FBI.

Former Justice Minister Penuell Maduna championed the unit in the Cabinet until he resigned last year, leaving Mbeki more isolated in his support for its independence.

Mabandla and her deputy, Johnny de Lange, are seen as Scorpions champions, but without much political clout.

ANC insiders say that apart from Zuma, ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe and Selebi are driving the campaign to reduce the independence of the Scorpions.

Mbeki's decision last weekend to appoint a commissioner to advise him about the future location of the Scorpions is seen as a final attempt to save the unit from being incorporated into the SA Police Service.

In Zuma's latest salvo against the Scorpions, he told a meeting of ANC chief whips that the unit must be called to account "every day if necessary".

ANC parliamentary spokesman Mpho Lekgoro was at the meeting in Cape Town when Zuma spoke about the Scorpions earlier this month.

Yesterday Lekgoro told the Sunday Times that "the debate is raging within the movement as to how to handle the relationship between the Scorpions and SAPS".

After the meeting, ANC Chief Whip Mbulelo Goniwe launched a blistering attack on the Scorpions. He accused the unit of undermining Parliament and said he would summon it to explain the way it had managed the Travelgate investigation.

The appointment of a commissioner comes after two years of pressure by senior ANC members to bring the Scorpions into the SAPS.

Signs of discontent first emerged at a tense ANC National Executive Committee meeting in late 2003.

This followed an announcement by former Scorpions' boss Bulelani Ngcuka and Maduna in August 2003 that Zuma would not be prosecuted in connection with South Africa's multibillion-rand arms deal, even though there might be a corruption case for him to answer.

At the NEC meeting, Maduna and Ngcuka came under attack, and delegates recommended that the Scorpions be integrated into the SAPS.

Mbeki, however, referred the matter to the ANC Cabinet lekgotla that was due to take place in January 2004. The lekgotla, in turn, referred it to the Ministerial Co-ordinating Committee.

Mbeki's support for Ngcuka when he was accused of having been an apartheid spy, and his reluctance to allow Ngcuka to leave as head of the National Prosecuting Authority, are indications of the President's strong support for the Scorpions.

Mabandla has denied claims that the commission on the Scorpions is motivated by a political vendetta.

Opposition parties this week accused the government of interfering with the "highly successful" unit for political reasons.

"The timing of this announcement alone, against the background of Travelgate and Zumagate, makes it look suspiciously like political interference," said the Democratic Alliance's justice spokesman, Sheila Camerer.

Government policy chief Joel Netshitenzhe said Mbeki's decision to appoint a commissioner was intended to gather the facts. There was no intention to disband the unit. "The only issue is their location," he said.

Presidential spokesman Bheki Khumalo said: "The President and the government value the role that the Scorpions have played in the fight against crime.

"What government is doing is to try and see how the relationship can be strengthened between the Scorpions, the police and the intelligence services. It's about structural relationships," he said.

But insiders say the uncertainty over the unit's future is undermining the work of its investigators.

"We are all examining our options. If the Scorpions go to the police, there is no way that I will go with them," one investigator told the Sunday Times.

With acknowledgements to Brendan Boyle, S'thembiso Msomi, Dominic Mahlangu, Dumisane Lubisi and the Sunday Times.