David Bruce This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
One of the questions which the Kampepe Commission may ask during its inquiry into the 'mandate and location' of the Scorpions is what South Africa should learn from experiences in other countries.
Is it unusual for countries, for instance, to have crime fighting agencies with overlapping mandates and areas of jurisdiction?
Countries like the US, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and Germany have a multiplicity of policing agencies at the national, state and local level. These tend to be countries which, unlike South Africa, have a federal or quasi-federal political dispensation.
Inevitably there are situations of uncertainty and conflict over issues of jurisdiction, highlighting the need for effective systems of coordination and communication between different agencies.
There are a number of exceptions to the rule that non-federal states tend to have a single national police force, as well as examples of special national investigative units that may be compared to the Scorpions.
For example England and Wales have 43 local police forces, each with a clear area of jurisdiction. In addition the Police Act of 1997 created the National Crime Squad to detect serious crime which is of relevance to more than one police force area.
Italy has a number of different police agencies, but in 1991 also established the Direzione Investigativa Antimafia, to carry out investigations related to organised crime or mafia offences.
Despite being a federation, Nigeria has a national rather than state policing system. In addition Nigeria has two special agencies, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Similarly to the Scorpions, and the American FBI, the EFCC also falls under the Department of Justice though it reports directly to the President. It has full crime investigation and prosecution powers.
Another body bearing some resemblance to the Scorpions is the Special Office for the Repression of Economic Offences related with Corruption which falls under Spain's Attorney General.
Nevertheless what Italy's DIA, Nigeria's EFCC, and the Spanish Attorney General's Special Office all have in common is that, unlike the Scorpions who have their own independently recruited investigators, investigators in these agencies are drawn or seconded from existing official policing agencies.
Other countries also make use of special arrangements for bringing together investigators and prosecutors to tackle high level crime.
The Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime, while located within the national police agency, is subject to the authority of the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to the investigation of individual cases.
In countries such as Germany or the Netherlands, the prosecution service also has direct authority over police investigations. The German Federal Prosecution Service also coordinates the analysis of organised crime assisted by prosecutors involved in working with the police. In some German states prosecutors, police and other experts are involved in joint structures focused on economic and financial crimes.
If it decides not to recommend that the Scorpions be closed down or relocated to the SAPS, the Kampepe Commission may choose instead to focus on improving coordination and communication between the SAPS, Scorpions and other investigative bodies.
The drafters of the legislation governing the Scorpions clearly saw this as an important issue. However the ministerial committee provided for in the legislation appears fairly cumbersome and, according to research conducted by South African analyst Jean Redpath, has never actually met.
By comparison Belgium has appointed an individual National Magistrate (Deputy Attorney General) to ensure the efficiency of national policing activities and international cooperation through coordinating investigations into terrorism, drug-trafficking and organised crime and the supervision of key national policing units.
According to policing expert Innocent Chukwuma there is no formal mechanism for coordinating the different agencies in Nigeria. However there are at least periodic meetings involving the chiefs of law enforcement agencies where issues of overlaps, which frequently occur, are addressed.
Reflecting in part our colonial and authoritarian heritage, as well as the anxieties of policy makers during the transition to democracy, policing in South Africa is highly centralised. This is despite the concession to provincial policing powers which are made in the Constitution.
While there are other countries (Sweden, South Korea, Poland, Ireland, Ghana) which only have a single national police force, this does not necessarily represent a healthy state of affairs for South Africa.
Internationally it is recognised that police involved in tackling organised crime are highly vulnerable to corruption by powerful crime syndicates. This implies that it is a good thing that we have both the SAPS and Scorpions which each investigate organised crime on their own initiative.
While there are examples of similar units, the Scorpions model of a special unit comprised of investigators and prosecutors employed by, and located in, the prosecution authority, is in some ways unique to South Africa.
The strongest arguments for maintaining the Scorpions may also not be drawn from the examples of other countries, but rather from the vigorous and dynamic investigative role which they have played at home.
David Bruce is a Senior Researcher in the Criminal Justice Programme at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation.
In Business Day, 10 June 2005.
© Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation
CSVR is a multi-disciplinary institute that seeks to understand and prevent violence, heal its effects and build sustainable peace at the community, national and regional levels.
