{"id":4742,"date":"2025-07-23T13:13:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T11:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wedodis.co.za\/news\/?p=4742"},"modified":"2025-07-23T13:13:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T11:13:41","slug":"hawks-not-up-to-the-task-raymond-zondo-criticises-ancs-decision-to-disband-scorpions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wedodis.co.za\/news\/hawks-not-up-to-the-task-raymond-zondo-criticises-ancs-decision-to-disband-scorpions\/","title":{"rendered":"'Hawks not up to the task': Raymond Zondo criticises ANC's decision to disband Scorpions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Former chief justice Raymond Zondo has questioned the African Nationwide Congress convention dedication in 2007 which decided to disband the elite crime-busting unit, the Directorate of Explicit Operations, popularly usually often called the Scorpions.<\/p>\n

Zondo retired final yr after a distinguished 12-year tenure on the Constitutional Court docket docket docket. On Wednesday, he spoke on the South African Council of Church buildings\u2019 nationwide church leaders anti-corruption convention in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can’t discuss intensifying or strengthening our battle in direction of corruption, or making certain that our battle in direction of corruption is environment friendly, with out a police drive that is able to do its job accurately. Throughout the early 2000s, we had the Scorpions which have been very environment friendly in combating corruption. The criminals had begun to concern them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIn 2007, at the ANC elective conference, a resolution was taken to disband them. And they were disbanded. The results are there for all of us to see what happened about the levels of corruption, because I don\u2019t believe the Hawks which were said to have taken their place are up to that job,\u201d he mentioned.<\/p>\n

He mentioned the State Seize Cost which he chaired, in its report, refers to different conditions that had been lodged in 2017 by the board of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), which was chaired by Popo Molefe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know that corruption at Prasa has been there for ages, and nothing really effective is being done. This board had gone to the Hawks and reported these criminal activities, and there were statements given. At the time of preparing the report of the (Zondo) Commission, in early 2022, which was about five years later, there was nobody who was arrested, and the Hawks said they were still investigating,\u201d he mentioned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He mentioned the fee usually often called upon the highest of the Hawks to clarify why there have been no arrests, and \u201chis explanation was completely inadequate\u201d as acknowledged contained in the report of the Zondo-led inquiry.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as I do know, in 2025, we now have now heard of no arrests of those people who’ve been involved in corruption at Prasa, whose situations have been laid with the Hawks in 2017. So, my faith inside the Hawks won’t be the equivalent as the faith I had inside the Scorpions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question that should arise at a conference like this, is for us to ask ourselves, whether when the call was made for the disbandment of the Scorpions, we as society did enough to try and protest, and say no, this should not happen. I don\u2019t believe we did enough. And I say, all of us, I don\u2019t think we did enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The fee of inquiry led by Zondo probed into allegations of state seize, corruption and fraud inside the general public sector, together with organs of state. The report was submitted to President Cyril Ramaphosa in June 2022.<\/p>\n

In 2009, Parliament disbanded the Hawks’ predecessor, the Scorpions, in step with the selection taken on the ANC’s Polokwane convention in 2007, regardless of its conviction value of higher than 90 p.c.<\/p>\n

The Scorpions had been situated contained in the Nationwide Prosecuting Authority, nonetheless the political argument was made that discovering an investigative unit inside a division of the judiciary interfered with the separation of powers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n