The Scorpions have been a very bad experiment.

They were supposed to tackle organised crime but, owing to a lack of monitoring, they ended up being a law unto themselves, selecting cases they wanted to prosecute.

Their success rate is overrated and even the acting national director admitted that their conviction rate is hovering around 60 percent.

Here is why the Scorpions must go as a matter of urgency:

lThey have failed to stick to their mandate of fighting organised crime by only following up the cases of ANC politicians.

lThey have been warned time and time again to desist from gathering intelligence, which they are not trained to do.

lThey meddle in politics, the Browse Mole Report being a case in point.

lThe intelligence portfolio committee has made damaging claims against the Scorpions' intelligence gathering and the subsequent fabrication of lies about leaders of the ruling party.

lThe majority of this country expected the Scorpions to prosecute the apartheid era criminals but they failed.

lThe Scorpions are infested with apartheid era agents who dislike and label the ANC a terrorist organisation.

Let us accept the Scorpions were a noble experiment gone horribly wrong and work together to ensure the envisaged new "super unit" will be effective.

Patrick Rampai, Polokwane