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The ANC has mooted an independent agency to root out Scorpions members who undermined the party and tried to destabilise the country.

This “clean-up” would be extended to all security structures, including the military, intelligence services and police.

In an interview with Weekend Argus, former SANDF chief Siphiwe Nyanda, who chairs the ANC peace and stability sub-committee, confirmed the Scorpions were the prime target and said the purge should be done by an independent agency to ensure fairness.

“We said we need an audit process, so that we don’t take the rotten apples and incorporate them in the South African Police Service (SAPS),” he said.

“We need a review of security agencies. As far as Scorpions are concerned … audits must be carried out by agencies that are independent … we want the good guys who are capable of fighting crime.”

Nyanda dispelled criticism, especially from opposition parties, that the ANC was determined to disband the Scorpions after the elite police unit investigated allegations against party president Jacob Zuma and other party leadership.

“The disbandment of the Scorpions will have no effect whatsoever, in accordance to at least the construct of the ANC resolution, on the case against anybody, particularly (the case of) comrade Jacob Zuma because we are not saying do not prosecute if you have evidence, if you a case (against) Jacob Zuma or Jackie Selebi because the NPA will still exist,” he said.

DA leader Helen Zille has requested a meeting with Zuma in an effort to save the elite unit, while several legal challenges against its dissolution have been threatened.

Nyanda made it clear that the “conduct of some of the Scorpions agents against the party and the country” would cost them their jobs.

“We don’t want people who have given the Scorpions a bad name, (nor) people responsible for destabilising the country (or) trying to undermine the ANC,” he said.

“If you look at the Browse report … it is clear that there are people who are bent on undermining the country, destabilising the country, and undermining the ANC. Those people have to be uprooted. I am not talking about old-order people only.”

The so-called Special Browse report, which alleged that ANC president Jacob Zuma received money from Libya and Angola to topple President Thabo Mbeki, was leaked last May, but its authors remain unknown.

An official investigation blamed agents from the old order and foreign intelligence with links to the current security establishment, but unofficially fingers have been pointing to the Scorpions.

The ANC security head’s comments came in a week when the Scorpions’ fate seemed to dominate the state-of-the-nation debate in Parliament, with Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula, in a surprise move, apparently contradicting Mbeki by putting the last nail in the elite unit’s coffin.

Nqakula, a close Mbeki confidante, appeared to have toed the line of the new Zuma-aligned ANC leadership.

In his reply to the debate, Mbeki set out to clarify the apparent contradictions, confirming that the Scorpions would be disbanded and incorporated under the SAPS or a new specialised crime fighting unit.

Nyanda said Nqakula and Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla would meet his sub-committee at Luthuli House tomorrow.

A joint press conference by the two ministers, scheduled for last Wednesday, was cancelled shortly after Nqakula’s surprise remarks that the Scorpions would be dissolved. It is now due to be held on Tuesday.

Nyanda also sought to give reassurances that the ANC would still want to retain professionals and their skills.

Nyanda said the Scorpions were not modelled on the original idea mooted by the ANC, which had been twisted by “government and bureaucratic crafters”.

As a result, it would appear the ANC would want to micromanage the disbandment process closely.

“What we want to know from the ANC is what practical steps are going to be taken, how these resolutions are going to be effected. Even though they (the ministers) spoke to the (ANC) officials … we are going to be informed of the details by government and comment on the details … (and see) whether we are satisfied with the details, with the thinking of government and how it is going to happen. One of the things we should not do is diminish the capacity of the security establishment.”