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 MP refuses to rush bill on Scorpions
    Boyd Webb
    May 15 2008 at 10:25AM
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Despite the ANC's resolution to disband the Scorpions by June, MP Maggie Sotyu has decided to stick to the due legislative process and "oversight duties", even if it means delaying laws that will effectively bury the unit.

Controversial legislation to disband the Scorpions may only be dealt with by the respective portfolio committees towards the end of August.

Safety and security portfolio committee chairperson Sotyu told her committee on Thursday that she was not prepared to rush her oversight duties, despite pressure from her peers to have the process completed as quickly as possible.

"There is no way that we can deal with this bill in four days or three days - impossible," she said.
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'Even if it takes six months, we don't mind'
"Knowing the interests of the people in this bill, I am not prepared to do this (rush it) and the committee is not prepared to do it," she said.

The General Law Amendment Bill was only tabled in parliament on Tuesday.

This was despite original attempts to have the paperwork completed by March 31.

The bill, which amends the SA Police Service Act, will be processed by the relevant safety and security committees in both the national assembly and the national council of provinces.

A second bill, which repeals the Scorpions provisions in the National Prosecuting Authority Act, has not yet been tabled, although it was also approved by the cabinet two weeks ago.

The legislative juggling follows a resolution at the ANC's national conference in Polokwane in December 2007 that the Scorpions should be disbanded and incorporated into the police service by the end of June.

Sotyu said on Wednesday there was a good chance that her committee would only finish with the legislation towards the end of August.

"Even if it takes six months, we don't mind.

"We don't have a problem with that as long as we are going to have an effective legislation that will be understood by everybody," she said.


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