Elections 2024: DA pledges to reinstate the Scorpions should it govern
Pushed through by the ANC, the Scorpions were disbanded by Parliament in 2009 and replaced with the Hawks and the Investigative Directorate.
Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary candidate Ian Cameron speaking at a campaign event in Krugersdorp on 20 April 2024. Picture: Thabiso Goba/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - The Democratic Alliance (DA) has pledged to reinstate the high-level crime-fighting unit, the Scorpions, if it gets into government.
Officially known as the Directorate of Special Operations, the Scorpions were disbanded in 2009 by Parliament - a move pushed through by the African National Congress.
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The Scorpions were replaced with the Hawks and, more recently, the Investigative Directorate as government agencies specifically tasked with investigating and prosecuting organised crime and corruption.
Speaking at a campaign event in Krugersdorp on Saturday, DA parliamentary candidate Ian Cameron said such institutions have not levelled up with the Scorpions on uprooting corruption.
“It’s not only because of the specialised skill they bring to the table, it’s because of cross-pollination. When you have strong multiple faceted law enforcement and criminal justice entities that complement each other, they push each other forward, they help each other, they keep each other accountable - it’s healthy competition.”
Cameron said the DA wants to introduce a specialised court to fast-track cases of corrupt officials.
“How can it be that gangster cops, and gangsters themselves get bail, while good people are held sometimes for things they didn’t do or if you and I defend ourselves out here in a small holding and we end up shooting someone in self-defence, you get arrested and charged for murder when it’s clearly inquest, but a corrupt official doesn’t see the same?”