Whether the Scorpions remain with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) or relocate to the police, the elite unit will emerge as a different animal - politically battered, publicly scrutinised, its unfettered powers clipped and with a different mandate.

Its motto "feared by the criminals, loved by the public and respected by its peers" in the meantime will read "hated by its peers, still loved by the public, respected by foreign spy agencies".

The public animosity displayed by its counterparts in the security cluster has degenerated into such odium that even Jackie Selebi, the national police commissioner and Charles Nqakula, the safety and security minister, are questioning President Thabo Mbeki's judgment.

They have questioned the constitutionality of the Scorpions, arguing that the constitution provides for a single police force under the control of the national commissioner.

The Directorate of Special Operations (DSO), a.k.a. the Scorpions, was not created in terms of this particular constitutional provision. Mbeki relied on Section 209 of the constitution, which entitles him to establish, by an Act of parliament, an intelligence service other than the established one.

However, in terms of the National Strategic Intelligence Act, the DSO is not an intelligence agency and the Scorpions bosses have denied this several times. It remains to be seen whether Selebi and Nqakula would want to approach the constitutional court, a situation that could embarrass Mbeki.

But Marumo Moerane, counsel for the Scorpions, challenged the claim by Selebi and Nqakula, cautioning them that the constitutionality of the DSO falls outside the terms of reference of the Khampepe commission, as its mandate is to establish where better to locate the Scorpions, not "the destruction" of the unit.

Leonard McCarthy, the Scorpions boss, has said that the rivalry and territorial and jurisdictional jealousy could be addressed by the formation of a ministerial co-ordination committee. However, he said, Selebi had been reluctant to establish it.

McCarthy and his boss Vusi Pikoli, the national director of public prosecutions, understood this week that pleasing the police - through better co-operation and co-ordination - is not an easy task.

The relationship with their immediate political superior, Brigitte Mabandla, the justice minister, has soured so badly that the minister is now using confidential minutes in which the public protector imputes that Bulelani Ngcuka, the former NPA boss, abused his power in the Jacob Zuma corruption case.

This gives ammunition to people such as Kgalema Motlanthe, the ANC secretary-general, who in the past has also displayed resentment towards the Scorpions.

Nqakula has confirmed that the ANC is considering pushing for a single police force under one command. The question is why the president wants a commission to tell him something that his party has already decided.

Mbeki established a commission to probe whether Ngcuka was a spy, an exercise considered as raising a middle finger to his arch-rival, Zuma. He has recently also proposed a commission to determine whether there is a political conspiracy against Zuma.

Perhaps the president would want to use the clinical probe of the Khampepe commission against the ANC psyche.

In the end, there won't be any political support structure for the Scorpions, except if the president decides to defy his own party and retain the Scorpions in the NPA.

Pikoli and McCarthy have already conceded that there should be reforms that include:

Bringing the Scorpions under the oversight of Zolile Ngcakani, the inspector-general for Intelligence, and making the unit accountable for its activities;

Representation on the national intelligence co-ordinating committee to better co-ordinate the unit's activities;

Closer co-operation with the police crime intelligence division and sharing of resources with the organised crime unit of the police;

A review of the Scorpions' mandate to clarify what cases the unit should investigate, and whether it should conduct intelligence activities; and

More scrutiny of the Scorpions' investigators to ensure that the unit does not employ rogue elements who abuse their privilege and compromise the unit's integrity.

The personality clashes McCarthy has alluded to may stretch far beyond the commission and are likely to entangle the Scorpions in a political web. Selebi, Mabandla, Nqakula, Ngcakani, Billy Masetlha, the NIA's director-general and the ANC have pointed their blazing guns at the Scorpions.

One senior member of the ANC national executive committee told The Sunday Independent privately early this year that the organisation had created a monster that would come back to haunt the ruling party.

It was also clear during the alliance crisis meeting, and subsequent alliance secretariat meeting, that no one, except those who felt strongly that Zuma is corrupt, spoke highly of the Scorpions. However, what is puzzling is the cross-polarisation of opinions regarding the Scorpions in the face of Zuma-Mbeki politics in the ANC.

For instance, Nqakula, Masetlha and Mabandla are not regarded as Zuma allies, but their position on the Scorpions goes against the conspiracy theory that Mbeki wants to retain the Scorpions as his baby, away from the prying eyes of the police service.

Masetlha's submission was aimed at tarnishing the credibility and integrity of the Scorpions' agents by alleging that they have associated themselves with undesirable international spy agencies.

Gordon Thomas, a highly regarded authority on global intelligence, wrote in 2001 that Israel's spy agency, Mossad, had severed ties with the "ineffective NIA" and forged a solid contact with the Scorpions instead.

However, Masetlha's boss, Ronnie Kasrils, as well as the cabinet, raised concerns about Masetlha conducting what could be interpreted as his own foreign policy by deciding which country or spy agency is regarded as an enemy.

Whatever recommendations Judge Sisi Khampepe will offer Mbeki, the commission has exposed a need for constitutional, legislative and operational reforms in the Scorpions.

If the unit remains within the NPA, the jealousy may continue to hamstring law enforcement in this country. If it is relocated, it might lose skilled and talented young people who have carved a niche in specialised crime-fighting methods.

Either way, it is the criminals who will emerge victorious.

With acknowledgements to Moshoeshoe Monare and the Sunday Independent.