On May 22, 2024, we proposed a bold plan to reintroduce the renowned Scorpios to combat crime, arguing that South Africans need no doctorate in policing to recognise that our criminal justice system is severely clogged. One such clog in the system is the Hawks which, objectively, lacks sufficient independence, capacity, and operational efficiency.
Despite the GNU committing to driving a reform agenda in tackling rampant lawlessness, crime levels have continued to rise. If they do not live in increasingly fortified gated communities, many South Africans are forced to barricade themselves in their own homes, living behind electrified barbed wires and security fences, and relying on CCTV cameras and stealthily parted blinds to see what is happening in the streets outside their homes, streets that have been taken over by criminals who no longer hesitate to use violence in their acts of robbery. Those who live in poor rural communities, informal settlements, and townships, are even more exposed to all manners of wanton criminality.
Then there are high levels of blue-collar crimes in the form of state capture and other forms of corruption, whose suspected authors continue to walk the streets and the corridors of power – some having been deployed into our national parliament as lawmakers.
As ActionSA, we believe that doing things the same way repeatedly while hoping for different outcomes is a sure sign of lunacy.
It is for this reason that we renew our call for the creation of a Scorpios-style crime fighting unit that must have well-resourced crime investigation and prosecution capacity – buttressed by a strong forensic unit – without having to report to a political head in the form of a minister, or to require presidential decrees before investigating any suspected crime.
Crucially, the proposed body must carry out its mandate without fear, favour, or prejudice and ensure that no one – irrespective of identity or rank – gets to stand above the law.
We have noted President Ramaphosa’s announcement regarding the possible establishment of a new anti-corruption body, as recommended by the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council (NACAC), and we do so with caution and serious reservations.
We do so because nothing that the ANC has done in the past 31 years, including the decommissioning of the well-functioning Scorpios, was done in the best interest of South Africa. It is very disturbing to witness that many of the suspected criminals who have aided, abetted, and benefitted from weakening and repurposing our country’s vital institutions of democracy are coming from ANC ranks and file. We have no reason to believe that they will not continue to be shielded if the ANC dictates the terms of reference for the proposed establishment of a new anti-corruption body.
ActionSA constructively proposes, therefore, that a multiparty process that will be led by independent experts armed with knowledge garnered from some of the best crime fighting best practice from around the world, be charged with establishing such a body.
ActionSA Notes Announcement on Establishing a New Anti-Corruption Body with Caution
On May 22, 2024, we proposed a bold plan to reintroduce the renowned Scorpios to combat crime, arguing that South Africans need no doctorate in policing to recognise that our criminal justice system is severely clogged. One such clog in the system is the Hawks which, objectively, lacks sufficient independence, capacity, and operational efficiency.
Despite the GNU committing to driving a reform agenda in tackling rampant lawlessness, crime levels have continued to rise. If they do not live in increasingly fortified gated communities, many South Africans are forced to barricade themselves in their own homes, living behind electrified barbed wires and security fences, and relying on CCTV cameras and stealthily parted blinds to see what is happening in the streets outside their homes, streets that have been taken over by criminals who no longer hesitate to use violence in their acts of robbery. Those who live in poor rural communities, informal settlements, and townships, are even more exposed to all manners of wanton criminality.
Then there are high levels of blue-collar crimes in the form of state capture and other forms of corruption, whose suspected authors continue to walk the streets and the corridors of power – some having been deployed into our national parliament as lawmakers.
As ActionSA, we believe that doing things the same way repeatedly while hoping for different outcomes is a sure sign of lunacy.
It is for this reason that we renew our call for the creation of a Scorpios-style crime fighting unit that must have well-resourced crime investigation and prosecution capacity – buttressed by a strong forensic unit – without having to report to a political head in the form of a minister, or to require presidential decrees before investigating any suspected crime.
Crucially, the proposed body must carry out its mandate without fear, favour, or prejudice and ensure that no one – irrespective of identity or rank – gets to stand above the law.
We have noted President Ramaphosa’s announcement regarding the possible establishment of a new anti-corruption body, as recommended by the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council (NACAC), and we do so with caution and serious reservations.
We do so because nothing that the ANC has done in the past 31 years, including the decommissioning of the well-functioning Scorpios, was done in the best interest of South Africa. It is very disturbing to witness that many of the suspected criminals who have aided, abetted, and benefitted from weakening and repurposing our country’s vital institutions of democracy are coming from ANC ranks and file. We have no reason to believe that they will not continue to be shielded if the ANC dictates the terms of reference for the proposed establishment of a new anti-corruption body.
ActionSA constructively proposes, therefore, that a multiparty process that will be led by independent experts armed with knowledge garnered from some of the best crime fighting best practice from around the world, be charged with establishing such a body.