Hawks lack the sting Scorpions had in fighting organised crime

With the SA Police Service beset with corruption, political interference, and ineptitude, experts have concluded that the Hawks could never reach the public confidence earned by its predecessor the Scorpions.

In its short stint, the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO), commonly known as the Scorpions, earned public trust as an independent investigating and prosecuting unit with no fear or favour, but this seemingly did not sit well with the ruling party elite.

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This week national Hawks head Lieutenant General Lebeya shared the unit’s achievements since the previous quarter, including 827 suspects brought to courts and 217 convictions.

But public concerns have been that the kingpins behind organised crime such as illegal mining, drug peddling, human trafficking and kidnappings or those who order hits to silence whistle-blowers or take out rivals were hardly arrested, while low-level henchmen are often taking the fall. 

Cloud over Hawks boss

Lebeya himself has a cloud over his head following an Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) report accusing him of failing to stop the assassination of Anti-Gang Unit detective, Charl Kinnear. 

Kinnear, who was reportedly closing in on senior police officials for firearm related corruption, was gunned down outside his Bishop Lavis home in Cape Town in September 2020.

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Lebeya has since denied the accusation, saying in a radio interview that he did not “agree” with the findings in the report.

Political Interference

University of Free State anthropologist Professor Theodore Petrus agreed that endemic corruption has shaken the public’s faith in the ability of law enforcement agencies to act independently, which he said impacted their ability to tackle crime.

Of concern, he said, were politicians who are supposed to drive policy and provide oversight, like police minister Bheki Cele, making public statements on operational matters that are ideally the preserve of professionals.

Cele has become a regular feature on major crime scenes grabbing national attention and has come under fire for his recurring “shoot first and ask questions later” instructions to the police.

“The question is on what basis do [politicians] get up and make these statements?” Petrus asked.

“They believe that they have some kind of authority to make those statements and this raises questions on how independent are these [law enforcement] bodies … it suggests to me that in some way or another, they believe that they have a significant influence on law enforcement bodies.”

Scorpions’ disbandment fiasco

The Scorpions were formed in January 2001 but were controversially dissolved in 2009 for tackling crooked ANC bigwigs, and replaced with the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), the Hawks.

The Hawks are an independent directorate within the police tasked with dealing with priority crimes like organized crime, serious commercial crime and serious corruption.

Not only did the Scorpions take down ANC bigwigs such as Tony Yengeni, businessman Schabir Shaik, and pursued Jacob Zuma on arms deal related charges, they also pursued mafia don Vito Palazzolo, and mining magnate Billy Rautenbach for drug smuggling.

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According to Petrus, the disbandment of the Scorpions was a fiasco, saying the question now was whether the current unit could execute its mandate without fear and favour even when a suspect was at the highest power of authority.

Crisis mode

Petrus said the Hawks should also be looked at from the context of the police leadership crisis, training issues, as well as budget cuts, saying this all fed into the negative public confidence.

“What ties this all together in the final analysis is corruption. We know that corruption has penetrated to the very core of society and this is another reason why I question the level of independence. If we accept that corruption has penetrated to the very core of government, then how independent can these bodies actually be?”

Petrus added that at some point corruption was always going rear its ugly head, and in one way or another, it has an impact on the ability of units like the Hawks to carry out mandates successfully.

Spike in organised crime

According to the Africa Organised Crime Index, organised crime is increasingly tightening its grip on the nation, as mafia-style groups drive high crime rates, particularly in regard to drugs and extortion.

According to the report, criminality trends in SA increased by 0.47% between 2019 and 2021, featuring quasi-criminal style ‘syndicates’ locally with significant transnational links.

The report also notes that pervasive corruption exists in government, including at senior police levels, and noted that SA was a destination of choice for foreign criminal actors, particularly from Nigeria, China, Pakistan, Israel and southern and eastern European nations.

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