Crucial week in police-Scorpions stand-off

Like Selebi, Nel has been charged with corruption and defeating the ends of justice. He was arrested last week in a show of force by police at his home where he was handcuffed in front of his wife and children. The charges against Nel apparently relate to his testimony against former Scorpions investigator Cornwell Tshavhunga who was charged with sabotaging an investigation. Tshavhunga was suspended last January after being convicted of sabotaging a fraud and corruption investigation into the squandering of taxpayers funds. The ANC has put its oar into the stand-off, too, calling at the weekend for the urgent implementation of its Polokwane resolution to incorporate the Scorpions into the police – a move seen by some analysts as a backward step and a ‘get out of jail free’ card for corrupt politicians and organised crime bosses.

The DA says the latest developments show why the Scorpions should never be incorporated into the police, ‘where they would have been under the management of the same man they were investigating.’ Its spokesperson Dianne Kohler Barnard said the call to disband and reassign the Scorpions was in reaction to charges being laid against ANC president Jacob Zuma, and the naive belief that such a move would make those charges evaporate. According to a report in The Sunday Independent, Mbeki also refused to see any connection between the Ginwala Commission into the suspension of NPA chief Vusi Pikoli and the revelation that Selebi was finally going to be charged. He refused to comment on whether there was still a need for a Ginwala Commission. ‘You obviously know more about the Ginwala Commission than I do,’ Mbeki told a reporter. Full report in The Sunday Independent (subscription needed)

For his part, Pikoli remains silent. He told the Cape Times he was preparing his submission to the Ginwala Commission and refused to comment on the charges faced by Selebi until the dust has settled. Political parties have called for the Ginwala Commission to be disbanded. Pikoli declined to comment on whether he should be reinstated, saying: ‘People can say what they want … I don\'t want to comment until the dust has settled.’ ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe called for Pikoli\'s reinstatement and for the disbanding of the Ginwala Commission. ‘The allegation of a broken relationship with Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla was the excuse for his suspension … yet the Minister has never indicated anything of this nature. She must now inform the public if the allegation is true and if so, if the relationship is beyond repair,’ he said, adding the continuation of the commission would be ‘a waste of time and resources’. Sandra Botha, of the DA, said the delay in action as well as the involvement of the Presidency in the prosecution of this case has caused grave doubts as to Mbeki\'s impartiality and the abuse of executive powers with regard to the judiciary. Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)