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Hawks should not be used at the discretion of politicians: Analyst

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Political analyst Somadoda Fikeni says the Hawks should focus on their mandate and not allow the unit to be used at the discretion of prominent politicians.

The Hawks mandate is to target organised crime, economic crime, corruption, and other serious crime referred to it by the President or by the Police Service.

Fikeni’s comment comes amidst concerns that the unit is being used by politicians to carry out a certain agenda.

Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo is accused of using the Hawks to take action against a former mistress and on Friday the wife of a former cabinet minister was arrested by the unit for alleged assault and malicious damage to property.

These are charges which would normally be handled by the police service. Fikeni says such instances weaken the integrity of such institutions.

“This is the most dramatic indication of what has happened to our institutions and law enforcement institutions where they are weakened and then you do have networks of individuals who can influence the role of these particular institutions.

The Hawks ought to actively exercise themselves on the organised crime which is actually an albatross across the country, corruption issues, those are the types of things that the Hawks ought to be looking at.”

Arrest of former minister’s wife: 

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