Most governments state in their constitutions or laws that they themselves are there to protect and bring justice to its people. As a result, when things go really bad in one criminal area (say murder, or fraud) of the country, then the government will perhaps create a new crime fighting unit for that specific issue. In South Africa, such a unit was created specifically to fight financial crime (fraud...). This unit is called the Scorpions. The Scorpions as a unit is not connected to the police, but rather the justice department.
The Scorpions have been immensely successful, since they do not take nonsense from anyone. However, then they started taking on the vice-president of South Africa in a bribe case. He was apparently bribed by a French arms company to give an arms deal worth R42m ($7m) to them. The Scorpions wanted to charge him with a crime and there was a so-called "hearing" on these charges. What seemed typical at the time, there were counter charges at the head of the Scorpions of that time (Bulelani Ngcuka) of being an informant of the "apartheid" government of the pre-free democratic elections of 1994. Naturally, the goverment gets out of any complaint against it by blaming the apartheid-years government. This time it was no different. Naturally, with great haste, the government set up a committee to investigate these accusations against Ngcuka. These charges were found to be of no substance.
The committee set up to either validate or invalidate the charges against the vice just seemed to fizzle out after a while hoping that no-one would notice. People seemed to still be interested in the case; so the government, as usual, made an executive decision that the vice would not be prosecuted. Once again the ANC government protected one of its own against the run of the law. However, they decided to prosecute a small player in the arms deal to make it seem that they were serious about the corruption in the deal.
Recently, the government has decided to perhaps move the Scorpions out of the normal justice department and into the police. There have been so many corruption charges against members of the police that I think that this is a strategic move on behalf of the government. If they can get the Scorpions to become a part of the police, then perhaps the Scorpions will have no credibility anymore and will not be this thorn in the government's flesh anymore.
Is the government really serious about fighting crime? Then it is time they start fighting crime among their own. Root out those in government who are squandering the money of the people while creating promising careers for criminals. Is the ANC government going to do anything serious against its own members of parliament in the current Travelgate scam? We wait with baited breath!
Read more about the Scorpions issue.
I just wish for once, that the people would get a government they deserve! Oh, yes...! They did!
If only we could have a government, found on honour, justice and the true welfare of its people!
But, the Bible tells us that in the end people will call evil good and good evil, and it seems that the goverments of this world are standing at the head of this perilous slope into destruction!
Just thinking...
