Hawks hit back at Bhisho’s slap

The Hawks do not have the investigative capacity of their disbanded predecessors, the Scorpions.

This is the view of Sicelo Gqobana, who chairs Bhisho’s portfolio committee overseeing the premier’s office. He says the elite crime fighting unit did not have the skill that made the Scorpions a feared unit.

Gqobana raised his criticism when the Hawks were reporting to the committee on their crime-fighting endeavours.

He wanted to know what happened to the “skilled investigators” when the Scorpions were disbanded in 2009.

But Eastern Cape Hawks commander Mxolisi Nogemana shot back at MPLs for letting the Hawks down by not taking disciplinary action in cases of corruption but instead redeploying the accused elsewhere. He said the Hawks needed support from politicians. “I once arrested an official in three different positions: in the departments of education, health and transport. Clearly there is no will to hold those who commit crime accountable.”

Office of the premier portfolio committee chair Sicelo Gqobana this week asked a pertinent question: what happened to the highly skilled investigators when the Scorpions were so unceremoniously disbanded in 2001? The Scorpions were replaced by the Hawks but the Hawks have not even come close to achieving what the Scorpions achieved.

While they might have been a bit overzealous and a bit over the top at times with their tactics, the Scorpions got the job done by cracking down on lawlessness and made some high profile arrests. The Hawks are a shadow of that.

At an address by Hawks serious organised crime unit commander Mxolisi Nogemana at the Bhisho legislature on Wednesday, Gqobana registered his concern about the elite unit’s capacity to fight crime effectively.

He said the Hawks did not have the necessary skills the Scorpions had, and they must be capacitated if the country is to turn the tide against crime, which has reached crisis levels.

There is little new here as many people over the years have complained about the Hawks.

But the truth is that the Hawks have been hooded and jessed by the powers that be, and the politically connected and their cronies have got off scot-free, instead of facing the consequences of their misdeeds.

The Hawks’ and the NPA’s blunders in highprofile cases are well documented.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s “new dawn” has not yet translated into a better Hawks unit.

With this week’s appointment of advocate Shamila Batohi as the new director of public prosecutions, we are hopeful that having a “new sheriff in town” will inspire the Hawks to perform their duties better, investigate properly and present watertight cases for the NPA to successfully prosecute – or else cases will continue to be withdrawn against suspected criminals.

Until then, the Hawks will live in the Scorpions’ shadow while the rich, powerful and connected continue to break the law with impunity.

The vicious crime/impunity spiral has to end, and for that to happen the Hawks have to sharpen their talons and beaks.

Our crime fighters need to restore the public’s confidence in them – and fast.

The vicious crime/ impunity spiral has to end, and for that to happen the Hawks have to sharpen their talons