Scorpions set to join SAPS

The elite crime fighting unit, the Scorpions, looks set to be incorporated into the South African Police Service (SAPS). The African National Congress (ANC) is discussing the matter and would prefer to have all crime fighting bodies under one command.

Months ago, President Thabo Mbeki appointed Judge Sisi Kampepe to lead a one-person commission to investigate whether the Scorpions should remain with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), or be incorporated into the SAPS. But Security experts say it would be a mistake to move the scorpions.

Mbeki has said: "I've seen cases done by the Scorpions and I've been puzzled why the Scorpions were ever involved, cases that seemed to me rather ordinary and really could have been handled by the police. I'm saying there is that tension, we have to deal with it at some point, but we have been talking about it, if they are kept separate as they are now or look at some other arrangement because indeed, as I was saying, you can't have two police services at this national level."

Kgalema Motlanthe, the ANC secretary-general, said: "I've seen also how Scorpions affect arrests in the glare of cameras on TV and so on, and always wondered what does it mean, what has happened to the presumption of innocence".

Yesterday Charles Nqakula, the safety and security minister, confirmed that the ruling party had been discussing the matter, and that they would prefer all policing agencies to come under a single command. Better paid, well-resourced and with much better conditions of service - are some of the issues which will have to be resolved when the Scorpions become part of the police service. But what would such a move mean?

Integration may be a mistake
Anton du Plessis, of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) says: "I think it would be a mistake to move the Scorpions unit out of the NPA, I think the main reason for their success has been their model of operation which is based on intelligence and a prosecution-led investigation team, where you have analysts, investigators and prosecutors working for the same boss".

Du Plessis says the way to deal with the matter would be to re-define the roles and mandates of the police and Scorpions. But the all-too-powerful ANC's heavyweights have spoken. And with the ruling party's overwhelming majority in Parliament - it certainly looks like it is only a matter of when and not if the scorpions will be relocated.