Publication: The Natal Witness Issued: Date: 2005-10-20 Reporter: Radley Keys Reporter: Reporter:

The Scorpions Must Not Lose Their Sting

 

Publication 

The Natal Witness
Date 2005-10-20

Reporter

Radley Keys

Web Link

www.witness.co.za

 

IT is most ironic that at the very time that the ANC Youth League is demanding that the Scorpions lose their independence and be incorporated under the South African Police Service, the commission established by the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal is hearing evidence about the incompetence of the SAPS.

The argument put forward by the ANCYL is based on the fallacy that policing would be more effective if all policing agencies fell under the control of the SAPS. Despite the excellent success rate achieved by the Scorpions, they still demand the unit's demise. A typical example of, if it works, break it. It is most revealing that the youth league remained silent on the Scorpions from their inception until Jacob Zuma came under scrutiny and was charged. Even when MPs were charged for their Travelgate excesses and abuse of the public purse, the youth league remained silent.

The record of the SAPS remains dismal although the ANC proudly proclaims that, except for the murder and rape levels, crime in South Africa is on the decline. They relegate death and rape to the irrelevant and attempt to deflect attention away from the fact that we are the murder capital of the world. It is cause for South Africans to hang their heads in shame.

The SAPS needs to be strengthened further to meet this crisis headon. They need more men and women to swell their ranks, to be given extensive training to take charge of the safety of the people of our country, to be equipped to the extent that they are able to outgun the criminal arsenal and guarantee an environment of the rule of law. With this in mind, the SAPS must sharpen its focus on providing safety and security to the people and the economy of the country.

The Scorpions, on the other hand, are a specialised, focused force to eradicate the fraud and corruption that undermines the fabric of our economy and social fabric. They are directed by the prosecuting authority and therefore produce an exceptionally high success rate in the prosecution of fraudsters and corrupt individuals and companies. The efficacy of their operations has promoted the reputation of South Africa abroad, so much so that police services from other countries have come to South Africa to learn from our successes.

If politicians feel the sting of the investigations and prosecutions of the Scorpions and are in the forefront calling for the unit's demise, they can be justifiably accused of abusing their position of power and privilege to prevent themselves from having to face the consequences of their illegal escapades and the wrath of the law.

If the commission appointed to consider the position of the Scorpions succumbs to the public protestations of the ANCYL and others to render the unit nothing more than a toothless bulldog, it will render the greatest disservice to the rule of law in South Africa and promote the perception that crime indeed does pay. It will be no less than the commission itself casting the rule of law aside. This the youth league can do, but not the commission set up to assess the tools available to the state to ensure our safety.

The success of one law-enforcement body must never be a threat to another. If this were allowed to develop, we would land up with the lowest common dominator scenario where nobody is allowed to excel for fear of showing the other up to be a failure - a development the criminally inclined would certainly revel in.

It is not a question of either/or between the SAPS and the Scorpions. South Africa needs both to work effectively and efficiently and in collaboration with each other to bring crime under control, each in its own sphere ensuring they undermine the criminal mob's intention of running the country. The government needs to ensure that the SAPS are short of nothing in the war against crime and that the Scorpions have its total support irrespective of who has to face the fury of the law.

The carping at the alleged excesses committed by the Scorpions can be multiplied many times over against the SAPS. Dismantling the Scorpions on the basis of these allegations must be considered a major victory by the criminals who have suffered under their successes. Logically this must result in the dismantling of the SAPS considering that the SAPS are defending 29 cases per week in the courts for human rights abuses committed by their members.

Let us not fall to the empire building tactics of one group over another, but support both the SAPS and the Scorpions in their respective roles in combating crime, as the NIA too needs our support. Let not our support of those under prosecution for alleged crimes blind us to the need to bolster our forces in their fight against crime.

The deputy president of the ANC has repeatedly called to have his day in court, and that is indeed his right. But let the institutions entrusted with society's safety do their work unhindered by the political opportunists so that these forces can ensure an environment where we can take possession of our future, our homes, our streets and our lives. We deserve no more, and certainly, no less.

Radley Keys is the DA spokesperson on community safety.

With acknowledgements to Radley Keys and The Natal Witness.