The last leg of public hearings on the Scorpions' future turned into a slanging match between ANC supporters in favour of disbanding the crime-fighting unit, and parties against the idea, which slammed the hearings as a farce.
Emotions ran high as opposing sides jeered and booed each other's speakers, but cheered their own during oral submissions at a packed meeting at the Ikwezi Community Centre in Gugulethu on Monday.
Organisations for the Scorpions' closure included the ANC Youth League, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union and the Northern Suburbs Residents' Union. They all questioned the Scorpions' partiality and favoured its integration with the police. The DA, PAC and the ACDP vehemently opposed its disbandment.
Security and constitutional affairs portfolio committee chairperson Maggie Sotyu had her hands full as ANC supporters continually broke out in songs that included party president Jacob Zuma's trademark Umshini Wami. A handful of DA supporters dressed in yellow sat in silence and were later teased with displayed flyers that read: "My dog needs a yellow T-shirt".
"We have to look at the justice system, which the deputy justice minister said was not working. The problem is the justice system itself. The PAC is opposed to the disbandment of the Scorpions. Corruption is a crime and we have to use whatever means at our disposal to fight corruption. We have to cherish the successes of the Scorpions," PAC provincial leader Bennet Joko said.
He was continually jeered and for his trouble received a curt response from an ANC committee member who said: "You say the PAC is against the disbandment of the Scorpions. Which PAC are you referring to?"
The remark, which mocked a divided PAC leadership, had most of the audience in stitches. ACDP MP Steve Swart slammed the hearings as a farce and said they were an attempt to rubber stamp an ANC decision taken at its Polokwane conference last year.
Following a rousing welcome, ANC provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha accused the Scorpions of targeting certain ANC members and seeking publicity while doing so.
"The ANC Western Cape places on record that it supports the dissolution of the Scorpions.
"The ANC Western Cape notes the ANC's commitment to combating crime in South Africa is an ongoing commitment," Skwatsha said.
Earlier, DA MPL Robin Carlisle slammed Monday's hearing as an ANC rally after he was jeered as he responded to questions about Scorpions members who served in the Security Branch during apartheid.
"I don't know the individual members of the Scorpions, but I've met some black members and if they come from apartheid, then I come from the moon," Carlisle said.