Businessman Hugh Glenister will take his campaign over the Hawks investigative unit back to the Constitutional Court, he said on Thursday.
“How can the Hawks combat corruption within the public sector if the ruling party has control over who can be investigated and who is above the law?” he asked.
“The unit has its hands tied and is vulnerable to... political interference....”
Last March, the Constitutional Court ruled that a part of the SAPS Amendment Act be sent back to Parliament for amendment because it made the Hawks vulnerable to political interference.
Its concerns related to the conditions of service of the unit’s members and its head, the possible effect on their job security due to their work, the appointment of members, flexible and unsecured pay scales and who they reported to in Cabinet.
The section of legislation in question enabled the disbanding of the Scorpions, a body of investigating prosecutors which fell under the National Prosecuting Authority and which preceded the formation of the Hawks, which falls under the jurisdiction of the police.
The Constitutional Court gave 18 months from the ruling Ä until September 18 this year Ä for the amendment, and suspended an order of constitutional invalidity for that period to allow for the amendment.
The executive was ordered to remedy the legislation to provide the Hawks unit with adequate specialisation and training; independence from political influence and interference; guaranteed resources; and security of tenure for the unit's officials.
At the time the amendment bill was passed, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said there was no international imperative to relocate the unit and that the final bill guaranteed the operational and structural autonomy of the unit.
Glenister submitted a notice of his application to the Constitutional Court on Thursday.
His legal counsel asked the court to give the executive another six months to remedy the legislation, and suggested that a new entity be established, outside the police, with a specific mandate of combating corruption.
Glenister said this could be achieved in a number of ways:
through the creation of a new chapter nine institution, a specialised unit within an existing chapter nine institution, or a free-standing legislated body which was not accountable to the national commissioner, the minister or Cabinet.
Chapter nine institutions are those constitutional bodies which support democracy, such as the Public Protector, the SA Human Rights Commission, the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious, and Linguistic Communities, the Commission for Gender Equality, the Auditor General, and the Independent Electoral Commission. - Sapa