Cabinet backs Khampepe report maintaining separation from SAPS

National police Commissioner Jackie Selebi is the clear loser in the battle for control of the elite Scorpions crime-busting unit.

As well as not gaining control of the unit, the Cabinet has also accepted that police watchdog, the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), be empowered to investigate any “infractions that may attend the law enforcement functions” of the Scorpions.

This decision to empower the ICD goes against Selebi’s wishes that it be disbanded.

In May, Selebi told parliamentarians that the ICD had made “inhuman” demands of police officers. He also said that police had an evaluation services division that dealt with the need for corrective measures following improper police action.

Selebi’s spokesman, Sally de Beer, said Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula was better placed to comment on the Cabinet’s decision.

Judge Sisi Khampepe, appointed last year to probe the possibility of incorporating the Scorpions into the SA Police Service, found that Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla did not have “practical and effective” oversight responsibility in respect of the Scorpions’ law-enforcement functions.

Khampepe recommended that the unit remain within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), but that Nqakula be responsible for political oversight of the unit’s law-enforcement component.

The Cabinet decision also ended uncertainty over the future of the Scorpions ­ which had revealed sharp divisions within the Cabinet.

Mabandla and Nqakula seemed to agree during the commission of inquiry that Mabandla was not the right person to oversee the Scorpions. Selebi and former National Intelligence Agency boss Billy Masetlha said the unit should be relocated to the police.

NPA head Vusi Pikoli said the unit should be kept within its current location, but recommended that operational controls be put in place.

Nqakula said his first priority was to “heal the rift” between police and the Scorpions.

“Of course, it would be one of our first priorities ... we can’t allow a situation where the agencies are at loggerheads with one another. It would be one of the things that we would have to address.”

Khampepe found that the “rationale for the establishment” of the Scorpions remained valid.

She found that a “major challenge” was the weakness of co-ordinating systems between the Scorpions and other law-enforcement agencies.

This undermined the optimal functioning of the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO).

“This was not helped by the fact that the ministerial co-ordinating committee established in terms of NPA Act did not function properly and the manner in which cases were selected for investigation and prosecution by the DSO.”

Frank Chikane, the director-general in the Presidency, said Cabinet accepted the recommendations after ministers in the National Security Council (NSC) had studied the Khampepe report.

Senior government officials close to the NSC said the acceptance of the report and its recommendations was aimed at closing gaps within the country’s security agencies in the fight against organised crime.

“This is not about those individuals who head the different units. This is to ensure that we close the gaps and to make our efforts more effective,” said one.

With acknowledgements to Simon Mathebula, Dumisane Lubisi and Sapa.