This week saw the official hand over of responsibilities for fighting political corruption in South Africa from the “old” Scorpions to the “new” Hawks. Will the Hawks succeed where the Scorpions failed? What is the difference between the two organisations?

“The Scorpions” was an elite anti-corruption squad falling under the prosecuting authority, not the police – set up by Thabo Mbeki when he came to power in 1999 to tackle organized crime, corruption and complex commercial cases. However it soon got the reputation of being a tool that Mbeki could use against his political opponents in an environment of conspiracy theories. Namely the Scorpions played an important role in the National Prosecuting Authorty’ s case against Jacob Zuma and when the pendulum swung at the Polokwane in December 2006, it was only a matter of time that the Scorpions would be disbanded by the new powers to be.

Initially called Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (DPCI) nicked named DIPSI in Zapiro’s cartoon of the 24th May 2009 in the Sunday Times

It has now been renamed “The Hawks” reporting to the Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa who has appointed the relatively unknown former deputy provincial police commissioner in the Western Cape and former Robben Islander, Anwar Dramat as head of the unit of 800 former Scorpions investigators, police officers from the crime intelligence unit as well as officers from the South African Revenue Services’ fraud department. At the launch the Minister of Police is reported to having said “We’re not only launching a new directorate but we’re also witnessing the first flight of the Hawks. As the birds, the Hawks will have an eye for detail and be able to see from afar. We expect them to zoom in on illegal networks” resulting in Zapiro’s cartoon of the 9th July 2009 in The Times

So will the Hawks be watchdog or lapdog?

For more Zapiro cartoons, visit http://www.zapiro.com

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