South African Crime Quarterly 24

Individual articles are hosted on the Academy of Science of South Africa's Open Access Journals system. To access individual articles for this edition, click here

The wisdom of the ANC’s decision to dissolve the Directorate of Special Operations (more commonly known as the Scorpions) has been the subject of intense debate in the South African media since December 2007.

This edition of the Crime Quarterly thus focuses almost exclusively on the matter of the Scorpions. Unlike most other editions of the journal we have made space for several opinion pieces. Moe Shaik, formerly Deputy Intelligence Coordinator of the National Intelligence Coordinating Committee presents the ANC’s reasons for seeking the disbanding of the Scorpions, David Bruce counters this argument, presenting a case that dissolving the unit will create the space for more political meddling in affairs of justice, rather than reducing it. Gail Wannenburg and Anthony Minnaar draw on their experiences, providing reasons why the investigative style of the Scorpions was successful

For posterity we have also included a summary of the Khampepe report prepared by the ISS’s Andrew Kanyegirire, we end this edition with a report by Johan Burger and Cyril Adonis on the findings of research into the constraints faced by the ICD  - a timely contribution that adds to concern about the effectiveness of police oversight, particularly in the light of the dissolution of the Scorpions.