The Hawks do not have the investigative capacity of their disbanded predecessors, the Scorpions.
This is the view of Sicelo Gqobana, who chairs Bhisho’s portfolio committee overseeing the premier’s office. He says the elite crime fighting unit does not have “the skill” that made the Scorpions a feared unit.
Gqobana raised his criticism when the Hawks were reporting to the committee on their crime-fighting endeavours.
He wanted to know what happened to the “skilled investigators” when the Scorpions were disbanded in 2009.
However, Eastern Cape Hawks serious organised crime unit commander Mxolisi Nogemana shot back at the MPLs for letting the Hawks down by not taking disciplinary action in cases of corruption but instead redeploying them elsewhere.
“This is really discouraging for us as investigators. I’ve worked in a number of fraud and corruption investigations against senior government officials and there were a number of cases where I would arrest an official, only to see them going to another department.”
He said the Hawks need support from politicians.
“I once arrested a certain official in three different positions: in the departments of education, health and transport. Clearly there is no will to hold those who commit crime accountable.”..