Johannesburg - Former Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba on Saturday launched his new political party, promising to re-establish the now-defunct Scorpions to fight corruption.
Action SA, of which Mashaba is president, wants to create a capable and ethical government
”Now that the time for talking is over, and the era of action is upon us, I stand before you to dedicate this new party to you, the people of our country,” he said.
Mashaba promised South Africans a new approach to fighting crime with a resourced detective units and modernised investigative capacity.
”We need more policemen and women,” he said.
According to Mashaba, the country needs the South African Police Service to be resourced and modernised to fight crime.
”We have to remove the political interference that cripples our police. Our court system needs to be resourced and expanded so that the pace of justice is sped up,” he said.
Mashaba wants regional heads of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to be elected so that they can be held accountable for prosecutorial performance.
He has undertaken to set up specialised units to tackle priority crimes including the re-establishment of the directorate of special operations, the Scorpios’ official name.
”These specialised units must follow a prosecutorial style of investigation and must be supported by similarly specialised units in the NPA and our court system,” explained Mashaba.
He said he hated corruption with passion.
”Corruption cannot be fought with rhetoric or platitudes but only with action,” he said.
Mashaba also slammed the country’s opposition parties for their failure to unseat the ANC and promised that his party will change this.
”Where we contest next year, we will win,” he promised.
Political Bureau