The chickens are coming home to roost as the ANC's equivocations for killing off the Scorpions are laid bare as simple political thuggery.
The chickens are coming home to roost as the ANC's equivocations for killing off the Scorpions are laid bare as simple political thuggery.
How can a police unit investigate its own boss?
It can't, especially considering that one of the accusations against National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi is that he flagrantly used his office to shield mafia friends from prosecution.
But the National Prosecuting Authority and South African Police Service amendment bills the ANC is pushing through Parliament take the farce to a new level.
In line with democratic systems around the world, the Constitution enshrines a division of power between the three arms of government - the legislature, the executive and the judiciary.
We have learnt over the past 10 years that the monolithic ruling party would brook no interference from the legislature in its executive decisions. Now it is taking control of the judiciary.
The bills will allow the justice minister and the police commissioner to decide to shelve any investigation.
Killing the Scorpions and handing the decision to prosecute to politicians and their appointees will shield the ANC's corrupt functionaries and friends from judicial scrutiny. And that, plain and simple, was all that these measures set out to achieve.
Free rein on corruption
The chickens are coming home to roost as the ANC's equivocations for killing off the Scorpions are laid bare as simple political thuggery.
The chickens are coming home to roost as the ANC's equivocations for killing off the Scorpions are laid bare as simple political thuggery.
How can a police unit investigate its own boss?
It can't, especially considering that one of the accusations against National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi is that he flagrantly used his office to shield mafia friends from prosecution.
But the National Prosecuting Authority and South African Police Service amendment bills the ANC is pushing through Parliament take the farce to a new level.
In line with democratic systems around the world, the Constitution enshrines a division of power between the three arms of government - the legislature, the executive and the judiciary.
We have learnt over the past 10 years that the monolithic ruling party would brook no interference from the legislature in its executive decisions. Now it is taking control of the judiciary.
The bills will allow the justice minister and the police commissioner to decide to shelve any investigation.
Killing the Scorpions and handing the decision to prosecute to politicians and their appointees will shield the ANC's corrupt functionaries and friends from judicial scrutiny. And that, plain and simple, was all that these measures set out to achieve.