Don't disband the Scorpions: DA

The DA wants to prevent the disbandment of the Scorpions

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will again ask the Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete to suspend the process to disband the Scorpions, the party said today.

DA Chief Whip Ian Davidson said he had asked Mbete in March to halt the legislative process to disband the Directorate of Special Operations (Scorpions) pending the outcome of a legal challenge to the process on constitutional grounds by concerned citizen Hugh Glenister. "I have not as yet received a reply from her," said Davidson.

In the light of the release of the Khampepe Commission report tomorrow, "in which Judge Sisi Khampepe plainly recommends that the Scorpions be retained within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)," - and following on the decision on Wednesday by President Thabo Mbeki's Cabinet to approve the General Law Amendment Bill and the National Prosecuting Amendment Bill in advance of the two bills being tabled in Parliament this week - Davidson would again be writing to the Speaker to reiterate the DA's call.

More resistance from UDM
United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa said the latest media reports regarding the Khampepe Commission demonstrated that the entire process around the Scorpions' future had been prejudiced by Mbeki's administrative failure to implement the recommendations of the commission.

"It seems that Mbeki's friendship with [police commissioner Jackie] Selebi weighed more than the recommendation of Judge Khampepe," Holomisa said. The Scorpions were beset on the other side by ANC President Jacob Zuma's faction, "that has its own reasons for wishing the elite unit's demise.

"There is a tendency by the ANC government to sit on explosive information and claim national security to justify this, when it is becoming clear that Judge Khampepe made many recommendations that should have been implemented.”

The UDM was fully convinced that the matter must be taken all the way to the Constitutional Court if the ANC insisted on pursuing the demise of the Scorpions.

The Glenister Pretoria High Court hearing has been moved to May 20 to 22, following a request by government respondents in the matter, including Mbeki, for an extension on the April 16 deadline for answering affidavits. - Sapa