The African National Congress (ANC) has admitted that the Scorpions' prosecution of ANC president Jacob Zuma "is not totally divorced" from the party's attempts to get rid of the Scorpions.

But during a debate on Thursday at the Institute for Security Studies, senior ANC national executive committee member and former defence-force chief Siphiwe Nyanda also lashed out at "opposition parties and the liberal media" for accusing the ANC of dissolving the Scorpions solely to protect its members against prosecution.

"The DSO [Directorate of Special Operations, the Scorpions] was used to pursue a political agenda and to target certain people in the ANC to the benefit of sectarian and foreign interests," Nyanda said.

Yet the "issues of the DSO" are not "totally divorced" from the state's investigation and prosecution of Zuma. "It [the ANC's resolution] was informed by the view of how the DSO conducted itself in relation to Jacob Zuma."

He elaborated: "Their [the Scorpions'] secret briefings became notorious. They undermined the rights of people. They charged Jacob Zuma without having sufficient evidence and, subsequent to that, launched Hollywood-style raids on his house.

"They [the Scorpions] were even trying to influence the outcome of Polokwane [the ANC's December national conference] by issuing statements on Jacob Zuma. All of this amounts to human rights violations," Nyanda said.

For the first time Nyanda outlined the ANC's five reasons for wanting to close down the Scorpions:

• It is important to separate investigators from prosecutors to prevent an "abuse of authority" that may occur when prosecutors are also involved in investigations from the start.
• The Scorpions "illegally" gathered intelligence without being accountable to Parliament.
• The ANC has information that shows the Scorpions were going to prosecute five apartheid security operatives as well as five ANC leaders who were denied amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. "This is not the fair and just manner in which we want our country to reconcile. The ANC doesn't think that the actions of apartheid operatives can be compared to the just war of the struggle."
• The Scorpions were "dabbling in politics" by holding a meeting of executives to discuss ways in which to "undermine" the ANC's resolution for dissolving the unit.
• There is unhealthy competition between the country's crime-fighting agencies, particularly the Scorpions and the police. This undermines the country's crime-fighting capacity.

• Mpshe on stressed Scorpions Scorpions not disbanded by June?
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With acknowledgements to Adriaan Basson and Mail and Guardian.