Publication: Business Day
Issued:
Date: 2008-02-14
Reporter:
Disgrace does not begin to describe the decision by the African National
Congress (ANC) to disband the Scorpions. Without advancing
a single coherent argument the ruling party not only decides to get rid
of a vanguard force in the fight against organised crime and corruption, it
announces it to the world as a fact, as though Parliament simply does not exist.
Is this the true heart of the ANC? Is this the
essence of the movement we danced in the streets for in 1994?
It was not supposed to be like this. When the ANC came to power in 1994 it was
to make this a better place, free from cruel and corrupt officialdom and free
from organised crime, which used the so-called "legitimacy" of the apartheid
state as a cover.
One of the key weapons in this effort was the decision, when creating the
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), to attach to it a corps of investigators,
which came to be called the Special Operations Directorate (DSO the
Scorpions). They have been a great success. Needlessly heavy-handed at times, to
be sure, but effective nevertheless. The decision by the ANC at its recent
Polokwane conference to merge this unit into the police is a direct result of
that success.
First, they have put ANC president Jacob Zuma's financial adviser, Schabir Shaik,
in prison for fraud and they have helped the NPA compile a compelling fraud case
against Zuma himself. That case is not the construct of a
political opponent. You would only have to read the judgment in the Shaik
trial to appreciate how compromised Zuma is. Little wonder he is said to be
seeking a negotiated way out of prosecution.
In addition, the Scorpions have been central to the charges of defeating the
ends of justice against National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi.
These two cases, and the fact that the unit has acted against other ANC figures,
are the sole reason it is now to be killed off.
It is hard to imagine the damage this action will do to our reputation as a
sensible country. For the ruling party, particularly one under new management,
to take as its first action the destruction of an effective crime-busting force
is so reckless and damaging we have to wonder at the state of mind of the people
who are driving the process.
It is simply a lie to suggest, as Safety and
Security Minister Charles Nqakula did in Parliament this week, that the
Scorpions will be merged into a new unit in the South African Police Service in
order to "change for the better" the fight against organised crime. That is a
justification post facto.
The fact is that it has been the combination of prosecutor and investigator that
has worked so well. And there are examples around the world to back that up.
Italy has been saved from the Mafia by magistrates armed with their own
investigators. You need just one determined prosecutor
with investigative powers to change the course of a country's history.
In Spain, Baltasar Garzon, a young magistrate with the powers of investigation
and arrest, has put ministers and senior officials behind bars for running a
dirty war against Basque separatists, and even investigated and detained the
former Chilean dictator, Gen Augusto Pinochet.
SA desperately needs this kind of force, or at the very least it needs
prosecutors with investigative resources. Now that they already have them, why
take them away?
The only answer must be to stop investigations into political figures. Certainly
Mathews Phosa, the most vocal of all the new ANC leadership on the destruction
of the Scorpions, has also been the least coherent. Why now, Mr Phosa? How
exactly does the country benefit?
Needless to say, the recent arraignment of Selebi would never have happened had
the Scorpions been under his control. Yet it must be
possible in a modern democracy to arrest even the chief of police *1. How
would that happen now in SA, without the Scorpions to investigate for the NPA?
Can the ANC, or at least its elders and leaders, not see what a picture this
paints of us? Do or say what you like, there is no softening the effect, no
escaping the disgrace, no lightening the stain on our
reputation.
You can, by the way, also measure the result. As the rand goes on the slide
(despite how many interest rate increases now?), you can bet the Scorpion effect
is prominent in there somewhere, alongside Eskom and the dollar. And the next
time we borrow abroad, it'll be there too, making our debt more expensive and
making it more expensive to deliver services to the poor.
Does no one in the ruling party appreciate any of this? Why does no one in the
ANC stand up? Where are the leaders with courage? Perhaps the message will be
driven home better through the pocket.
The longer we portray ourselves as uninterested in combating corruption (and the
Scorpions decision will do the trick for at least a decade), the harder it will
be to inspire confidence in our economy; and the harder it is to do that, the
longer it will take to bring interest rates down again and to start creating
jobs again. It's hard to credit that the unions are going along with this farce.
There's only one person who can save SA from this shameful episode and that's
Jacob Zuma himself. Zuma has to be able to separate the legal action against him
from his duties as a national leader. The rest of us may not, but he has to,
however difficult it is.
Zuma has to instruct his supporters that he wants the unit that has helped
formulate the charges against him to survive.
He has to tell them that he will fight his legal battle in the courts and take
the final outcome, whatever it may be.
Zuma needs to remind us all that he is more than a politician.
He has to remind us that he is a man *2.
With acknowledgements to Business
Day.
*1 It must be possible in a modern
democracy to arrest even the chief of government - while in office and not only
after the term of office has been completed.
As things stand now South Africa is going to have a trial of a sitting
president.
*2 Unfortunately, other than singing, dancing and
procreating, Zuma has shown himself to be a mouse :
- when formally asked in Parliament about his meeting with Alain Thetard
and Schabir Shaik, he lied - straight to the nation;
- when his friend, Schabir Shaik was on trial, he declined to be a defence
witness; and
- he and his "lawyer" Julie Mohammed conjured up a fake Revolving Loan
Agreement especially for the High Court.
Three counts and you're mouse.
There are many more examples.