The Scorpions and the South African Police Services are still at it. To make matters worse the National Intelligence Agency has jumped on the bandwagon as well.

The Khampepe Commission of Inquiry is hearing proposals on the future of the elite Scorpions unit which has rather become a place where disagreements are voiced in support of integrating the unit with the SAPS. And I must retract what I said before about Thabo Mbeki being behind the whole saga. According to certain newspaper reports, Mbeki is actually in favour of the Scorpions maintaining it's independence.

The National Prosecuting Authority is the parent organisation of the Directorate of Special Operations - the official name of the Scorpions. It is understood that the SAPS is in favour of getting rid of the DSO which was tasked with taking care of national-priority crimes including police corruption. Since their inception (1999) the Scorpions have been doing exactly that with a 90% "prosecuting" success rate.

There are arguments that the type of crimes that the Scorpions specialise in have diminished to such an extent that they're no more required - sure. Take them away and you'll see a resurgence of these crimes. There are also some silly arguments that the Scorpions are "removing" specialist consultants from the working community to aid them in their investigations. What a ridiculous statement. Only about 5% of the cases required outside consultants. The NIA argued that the Scorpions interacts with foreign intelligence agencies to the detriment of national security - sure. It's also controlled by former apartheid prosecutors - sure. And it leaks sensitive and classified information to the press from time to time - I must agree with that one.

Of course there's the normal hoo-ha about the DSO clashing with the SAPS on most operations with no co-ordination or co-operation between the units. It has actually been proven, in spite of the SAPS's claims to the contrary that the DSO has tried on numerous previous occasions to involve the SAPS more. The DSO tried to establish a co-ordination committee on ministerial level but was ignored in most instances.

Now face it, the cops have reason to moan and b*tch about the Scorpions. Why would they want to co-operate with the Scorpions if they viewed the unit as a threat to their corrupt lifestyle. Now, I'm generalising as there are a good number of dedicated and hard-working policemen out there. A pity the people in charge are all fat-cats that can't give a damn about the rest of the force.

Jackie Selebi (National Police Commissioner) feels that the opposition party is asking too many questions that he cannot answer. Questions like "how many firearms are at police stations" cannot be answered as the man does not keep his house in order. Simple as that as far as I'm concerned.

And to feed the fat-cats even more, government plans on changing the way our Road Accident Fund operates. With a fuel levy of 31 cents per liter the RAF is bankrupt. Instead of working on the cause they pander with changes in the rules and laws of an organisation that "used to" work fine. They can't seem to get rid of the corruption and instead blame the private sector lawyers for the state the RAF is in.

Bring the road accident rate down and we won't need the RAF! Simple as that!

Past Views

Current Joke

Past jokes

Current Exchange Rate

Daily News Headlines

Articles