EFFORTPOST The disbanding of the Scorpions - the SA FBI, by the ANC upon Zuma's presidential victory in 2009

The Scorpions were a highly specialized anti-corruption crime-fighting unit of RSA which operated under the Mbeki Administration. They could closest be described as the South African FBI, but specifically specialized as an anti-corruption unit.

They technically existed as a unit during the NP Regime, pre democratization of SA, but existed as an anti-espionage unit in the 1980s, to determine any communist sympathisers.

The Scorpions, or Directorate of Special Operations (DSO) as they were officially known, worked for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the agency of the South African Government responsible for state prosecutions. Basically they were established by President Mbeki in 1998 as an official crime-fighting unit , whom wanted to convert the very useful talent in the Directorate of Special Operations, but wanted to wash away the connections to Apartheid, thus the rebranding to the Scorpions.

By 1998, even Mbeki had already recognized the widespread corruption infesting national, provincial and municipal governments in SA due to the rapid change of regime through nepotism instead of meritocracy. The Scorpions were created (rebranded), and unleased to cull corruption within the fledgling democratic state.

SCORPIONS SUCCESSFUL:

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/scorpions-will-target-organised-crime-10792

By the time the Scorpions were disbanded in 2009, their taskforce numbered at 526 individuals. The Scorpions held very high levels of operation

power, and could basically investigate any individual or politician in the country.

It came to focus on such crimes as drug trafficking; white-collar crime in government and the private sector, especially organised corruption and serious and complex financial crime; and money laundering and racketeering.

The Scorpions were VERY successful, having obtained a conviction rate of over 90%. By February 2004, they had completed 653 cases, comprising 273 investigations and 380 prosecutions. 349 prosecutions resulted in convictions, representing an average conviction rate of 93.1%. Between 2005 and 2007, they initiated 368 investigations, completed 264, and prosecuted 214, with a conviction rate of 85%; during that period they also seized R1 billion in assets and contraband worth R1 billion.

https://www.news24.com/news24/opinions/analysis/sunday-insight-south-africa-harvesting-the-bitter-fruit-of-the-ancs-polokwane-revolution-20200726

SCORPIONS GROW UNPOPULAR:

By 2006 this tiny crime-fighting unit demonstrated stunning success after success, they were locking up white-collar criminals one after the other, and they held widespread popularity amongst the SA public due to their cleaning up corruption in the SA financial sector.

However, their shining so bright also made them unpopular amongst their contemporaries. Basically it boiled down to the Scorpions made the increasingly corrupt and inept SAPS (South African Police Service) look very bad in comparison. By 2006, crime and theft had increased drasitically 12 years after democratization, and the nepotism of the SAPS had its toll on the competency of the police force, effectively the Scorpions was the lone fricking arm in the whole nation of 45 million fricking people doing its job

Additionally there was also a racial element to the friction between SAPS high command, and the Scorpions. The Scorpions was commanded by majority white men, while by 2005, pretty much 100% of the nation's municipal Police departments were commandeered by black or coloured officers.

https://journals.assaf.org.za/index.php/sacq/article/view/953

Supposedly the strained relationship between SAPS and the Scorpions was the lack of communication between the Scorpions and SAPS High Command, in that Scorpions would continiously overstep over SAPS's jurisdiction when it came to arresting or investigating specific targets, and that they held far too much power in their ability to overrule any constraint or red-r*pe, which SAPS claimed the Scorpions abused.

But trust me, ALLLL of us listening to this bullshit at the ground level on the radio, knew these were petty and spiteful complaints, and that the SAPS complaints against the Scorpions were either, racially motivated, jealousy because the Scorpions were demonstrating just how shit the SAPS had become by being excellent in comparison, or because the SAPS high officer ranks were nervous their corrupt friends were under pressure.

Regardless, in 2005-2006 Mbeki allowed a commission to review the goals and mandate of the DSO (Scorpions), and to determine if they held too much power. Many corrupt ANC officials supported this investigation/commission because they wanted to temper the Scorpion's power and reach.

""Common complaints were that the details of the Scorpions' investigations were frequently leaked to the public before prosecution had commenced; that the Scorpions abused their power in exercising search and seizure warrants (including in the Zuma investigation, in which the ANC said that they had displayed "Hollywood tactics"); that they pursued selective and politically motivated prosecutions; and that they did not work well with the South African Police Service (SAPS).""

Mbeki formed what was known as the "Khampepe Commission" which basically investigated whether the Scorpions should continue as they were or not.

Long boring story short, Mbeki basically turbo cucked the corrupt ANC officials by saying essentially "Nope, Scorpions can continue to go as they were"

This made the ANC officials who had wanted to use the Khampepe Commission to restrict the Scorpion's power go full and was one of the reasons why Mbeki would lose favour amongst his previous ANC internal allies.

ZUMA vs MBEKI:

https://rdrama.net/post/203575/marseyflagsouthafrica-jacob-zuma-rpe-trial-and

I made a longpost a few months ago about how Zuma would enter the SA public consciousness due to his famous r*pe trial, and how he eventually would oust Mbeki as president of the ANC party, and become eventual president of the country of South Africa.

In case you guys forgot, in South Africa we do not vote for a President or presidential admin in the way the yanks do, instead we vote for political parties, and those parties in turn decide amongst themselves whom shall lead them, usually prior to each election. The ANC would have their 5-year congress to decide their leader every 5 years, along with decisions what policies the party were to follow (which is where the African National Congress name came from).

And fatefully that December 2007 in an upheaval, the far more radical and leftwing Zuma would oust the more neoliberal-oriented Mbeki as ANC-president.

And guess what!? A key part of Zuma's platform was the disbanding of the Scorpions, a very popular notion amongst his political supporters! The extraordinary thing was that average black people on the ground level approved of the Scorpions and their anti-corruption work! But it was the ANC-elite political class which supported Zuma's platform to disband the Scorpions, yet because of wingcuckery ANC supporters would not make even a blip of a sound in protest to this fragrantly obviously self-servingly corrupt move!

Like you guys need to understand what a shitshow this moment was in RSA politics. Mbeki had his failings as a leader, and his weakness to not prosecute nepotism and incompetence in his goverment nationwide, BUT ZUMA was a whole other level of insidious corruption!

The decision of disbanding the Scorpions was controversial, and it was opposed by a majority of South Africans

https://mg.co.za/article/2008-02-10-battle-over-future-of-the-scorpions

"The Inkatha Freedom Party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), the African Christian Democratic Party, the Independent Democrats, the United Democratic Movement, and the Congress of the People all expressed extreme dismay over the decision, and the DA was prominent in accusing the ANC of making the move in order to subvert investigations into corrupt ANC officials."

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/scorpions-support-grows-401317

"However, because the ANC had a supermajority in Parliament, opposition parties had little legislative recourse to oppose the amendments. Mbeki, still the national President though no longer the ANC President, also reportedly fought to keep the Scorpions intact."

https://mg.co.za/article/2008-02-14-zille-takes-scorpions-battle-to-zuma

====(from article)

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille is to request a meeting with African National Congress president Jacob Zuma to discuss the future of the Scorpions, she said on Thursday.

Zille told the Platform for Public Deliberation at the University of the Witwatersrand: ”I intend to put this challenge to him. I will write to Mr Zuma and request an urgent meeting to state unambiguously the disastrous consequences that disbanding the Scorpions will have for South Africa. yeah cuz he sure as shit will listen

NEWSPAPER REACTIONS AT THE TIME:

‘Is this the true heart of the ANC?'

Newspaper editorials condemned the move.

Business Daywrote: ”Without advancing a single coherent argument, the ruling party not only decides to get rid of a vanguard force in the fight against organised crime and corruption, it announces it to the world as a fact, as though Parliament simply does not exist.

”Is this the true heart of the ANC? Is this the essence of the movement we danced in the streets for in 1994?”

The Citizen wrote that by making the announcement on Wednesday, Nqakula considered it ”already done and dusted, forgetting the small detail of the move having to be approved by Parliament”. ”The crime-fighting unit was created by an Act of Parliament and must be disbanded by majority vote.”

The editorial continued: ”So much for accountability by government, so much for oversight by those chosen to serve the interests of the people. And so much for consideration of the disapproval of many South Africans.” ”… The burning question is why would the ANC leadership want to disband the very unit it created, and which it now fears because of its success? How many more worms will be concealed in the woodwork with the Scorpions gone?”

Beeld said that because the Scorpions were brought to life by Parliament, it was therefore Parliament's job to dissolve them, not Nqakula's. ”The minister's actions strengthen the perception that South Africa is now governed out of Luthuli House in Johannesburg — the seat of the ANC president [Jacob Zuma] — and not out of the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the seat of the president [Thabo Mbeki].

Beeld continued that it was the Zuma faction within the ANC that want to take the sting out of the Scorpions who had brought Zuma to court [for a forthcoming fraud and corruption trial].

====(END ARTICLE)

DISBANDING:

"The ANC's 52nd National Conference held in Polokwane in 2007 was a watershed moment. Jacob Zuma's ascension as party president was a clear indication of shifting power dynamics. The conference's resolution to disband the Scorpions can be seen in this context; Zuma and his allies consolidated power, and the unit's dissolution was part of this consolidation. On 23 October 2008, the National Assembly passed both amendments by a vote of 252 in favour and 63 opposed."

"The Scorpions' disbandment has often been interpreted as a mechanism to protect powerful politicians from scrutiny, particularly as the elite crime-fighting unit had previously pursued some of South Africa's most influential figures. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which the Scorpions were part of, seemed to be gaining too much momentum in challenging political corruption. South Africa, during this period, witnessed a growing narrative of corruption, especially within its political class. State Capture, a term that became synonymous with the Zuma presidency, reflected a broader problem of systemic corruption. The Scorpions, with their track record, were naturally positioned to challenge this status quo. Their removal was therefore viewed as part of a larger tapestry of efforts to safeguard corrupt practices at the highest echelons of power. "

https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7685927.stm

"The Scorpions unit has shaken South Africa's political landscape in the last few years, probing and arresting several prominent politicians, our correspondent says. But observers say the unit, formally known as the Directorate of Special Operations, pushed its luck too far when it pressed corruption charges Mr Zuma. That case was at the centre of a power struggle between Mr Zuma and Thabo Mbeki, with Mr Zuma's allies accusing Mr Mbeki's supporters of using the Scorpions to stop his rival gaining power."

This article has the single best summary.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/12/southafrica.internationalcrime

====(FROM ARTICLE)

The elite South African anti-crime unit that targeted the new African National Congress leader, Jacob Zuma, in a corruption investigation is to be disbanded.

The party claims the FBI-style force known as the Scorpions employed "Hollywood tactics" against Zuma when raiding several of his and his lawyer's properties in 2005.

Zuma, who deafeated the country's president, Thabo Mbeki, for the ANC leadership, is due to stand trial later this year charged with bribery, fraud, racketeering, money-laundering and tax evasion. It is not clear how the disbandment will affect the trial.

The security minister, Charles Nqakula, announced the decision to parliament today. To cheers from ANC deputies, he said: "The Scorpions will be dissolved and the organised crime unit of the police will be phased out and a new amalgamated unit created."

The Scorpions represents the investigation arm of the national prosecuting authority. However, police view the unit as invading its jurisdiction.

At December's ANC conference, which elected Zuma as leader, delegates voted to scrap the unit amid claims it had tried to smear Zuma and deny him the leadership.

The move is interpreted as a sign of renewed infighting between Mbeki and Zuma factions. Mbeki, who established the Scorpions in 1999, is due to hand over power next year, depending on the outcome of Zuma's trial.

Outraged opposition deputies branded the disbandment as an ANC attempt to control over parliament and President Mbeki.

"This announcement once again shows that the country is now run, not by parliament, but by those few in Luthuli House [ANC headquarters]," said Dianne Kohler Barnard, spokeswoman for the Democratic Alliance.

The Scorpions also led the inquiry into South Africa's police chief and head of Interpol, Jackie Selebi, who has been charged with corruption for accepting bribes from a convicted drug trafficker in return for protecting drug shipments, passing on secret reports from the UK and interfering with a murder inquiry.

Although the disbandment must be still be ratified by parliament, given the ANC's domination, the move seems inevitable.

====(end guardian article)

https://mg.co.za/article/2008-07-30-parliament-scorpions-will-be-dissolved

ATTEMPT TO SAVE SCORPIONS:

https://www.npr.org/2008/06/11/91359321/south-africas-fbi-falls-victim-to-politics

===(from NPR article)

Public support for the Scorpions is still high. Johannesburg businessman Hugh Glenister is working through the court system in an effort to save the unit. He has also collected at least 45,000 signatures through a Web site created in support of the Scorpions. Glenister says that disbanding the crime unit is the beginning of a slippery slope.

"Once we've taken out the Scorpions, what next?" Glenister says. "The Scorpions is the last guardian of the public, really, between greedy politicians and the public."

Amid the turmoil, some Scorpions have begun leaving the unit. Some observers predict members will disband the unit themselves before any official move, leaving the future of their cases and investigations uncertain.

====(end quote)

Anyways that's all I got