7 May 2008
editorial
Johannesburg — THE long-awaited full report of the Khampepe commission of inquiry into the Directorate of Special Operations (better known as the Scorpions) is finally available to the public in black and white -- all 144 pages of it. Not that this is of much consequence, since the controversial unit has become so mired in politics and evokes such strong emotions that its detractors are not about to let the facts get in the way of their spin this late in the game.
It is abundantly clear that the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies, which have led a relentless campaign to dissolve the Scorpions and set up a new unit under the control of the police, would have continued on the same course no matter what the report had said. The conventional wisdom in the organisation is that the Scorpions' prosecution of struggle heroes such as Tony Yengeni and Jacob Zuma proves the unit has been taken over by its enemies.
The gist of ANC secretary- general Gwede Mantashe's res-ponse was that Judge Sisi Khampepe "raises the same concerns we are raising", implying that they are essentially on the same page. And in President Thabo Mbeki's absence, the director-general in the Presidency, Rev Frank Chikane, appeared intent on defending his boss's inexplicable failure to release the report when it might still have had some influence on the debate, rather than standing up to the ANC steamroller.
For the record, the full report adds little other than detail to the summary of Khampepe's recommendations that was released shortly after the commission finished its work two years ago. This recognised that there were problems with reporting lines and who took responsibility, and in the way the Scorpions operated. Crucially, however, it concluded that there was nothing unconstitutional about the unit being independent of the police and falling under the National Prosecuting Authority.
Other than recommending firm action by the executive to ensure the two competing law enforcement agencies pulled in the same direction in future, and that political oversight over the Scorpions' investigative function be transferred to the safety and security ministry to facilitate the co-ordination of such activities, Khampepe essentially endorsed the reasons the unit was set up in the first place as well as the key elements that make it effective.
None of the "concerns" the ANC is so happy to share with Khampepe is insurmountable within the existing structure, and that is one of the areas where Mbeki has again failed the country through his inaction. If the government has "dealt" with all of Khampepe's recommendations, as Chikane insists, this action has been so low-key as to be undetectable. Certainly, it has been too weak to constitute any sort of effective defence against the ANC's ruthlessly expedient body blows.
Chikane asks that the voting public judge whatever unit is intended to replace the Scorpions on whether it weakens or strengthens the capacity of the state to fight crime. But by then it will be too late. Mbeki may have capitulated to the ANC, but that does not mean the opposition and civil society must too. The destruction of the Scorpions should be resisted by freedom-loving South Africans using all means still available to them, including the courts and the public participation process the proposed enabling legislation will have to go through.
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At last some people are starting to se the ANC bulldozer,this is not democracy.