VZCZCXRO6148
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHSA #1418 1941757
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 131757Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9041
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHTN/AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN PRIORITY 6990
RUEHDU/AMCONSUL DURBAN PRIORITY 1102
RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG PRIORITY 9356
RUEAWJC/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

UNCLAS PRETORIA 001418 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR AF/A AND INL/AAE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC KCRM KDEM SF
SUBJECT: "HAWKS" PRIORITY CRIMES POLICE UNIT LAUNCHED 
PREMATURELY 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Accompanied by a great deal of 
government-generated fanfare, the chief of South Africa's 
disbanded elite crime fighting unit, the "Scorpions," handed 
over pending investigation files to the newly appointed chief 
of a new elite crime-fighting unit organized within the South 
African Police Service.  The new unit was christened the 
"Hawks," festooned with its own logo and motto -- We will 
seek; we will find; we will succeed -- and heralded in a 
series of half-page ads in prominent daily newspapers. 
Reports that the Hawks are already swooping down on crime 
have proven premature, however, as it became increasingly 
clear that the "Hawks" are as yet only semi-hatched.  End 
summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On July 6, at a gala ceremony in Midrand, Thanda 
Mngwengwe Chief of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) 
Directorate of Special Operations, aka the Scorpions, handed 
over 288 pending investigations to South African Police 
Service, Deputy Commission Anwa Dramat, the newly appointed 
Director of Priority Crimes and Investigations. In response 
to the many critics who condemned the decision to disband the 
Scorpions and delighted in forecasting that the replacement 
unit -- or "DIPCI" -- was doomed to ineffectiveness in 
comparison, Dramat announced the birth of "The Hawks" and 
said 1700 officers from the SAPS and former Scorpions had 
been screened to join the Hawks.  Dramat said the Hawks would 
focus on violent crimes such as highjacking, ATM bombings and 
cash-in-transit heists.  Deputy Director of Public 
Prosecutions Charin de Beer assured the audience that moving 
the priority crimes unit out of the NPA and under the SAPS 
would not interfere with prosecutions, add that there "will 
always be a dedicated capacity" to deal with priority crimes 
within NPA. 
 
¶3. (SBU) On July 8, a police spokesman in KwaZulu-Natal 
province boasted that the Hawks had snagged two robbers who 
were about to hold up a jewelry store in Durban. This 
surprise announcement was greeted with some skepticism and 
prompted a flurry of questions on the make-up of the Hawks to 
the national SAPS press office.  The SAPS acknowledged that 
the arrest had been made by the provincial SAPS organized 
crime unit and admitted that that no one other than chief 
Anwa Dramat had as yet been officially assigned to the Hawks. 
 Speaking on behalf of Dramat, Spokesperson Sally de Beer 
said that the arrests could be attributed to the Hawks and 
the detective who led the operation "might be" included in 
the new unit. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Adrian Basson's commentary in the weekly Mail & 
Guardian (M&G), entitled, "A Falconer, but No Hawks," blasted 
the government for launching with pomp and ceremony a unit 
with only one official member.  According to Basson, the 
Hawks are first and foremost the end product of an African 
National Congress campaign to get rid of the successful 
Scorpions; thus the confusion regarding the birth of the 
Hawks should not surprise us.  Basson said the announcement 
that the Hawks would employ as many as 3500 officers from the 
former Scorpions and SAPS detectives does not jibe with 
numbers of officers available, unless all detectives working 
the SAPS organized and commercial crime divisions become 
Qthe SAPS organized and commercial crime divisions become 
Hawks.  Despite the confusion associated with the birth of 
the Hawks, Basson called for an end to the public moaning 
about the demise of the Scorpions, stressing that the public 
deserves a force even better equipped and skills than the 
Scorpions to deal with organized crime and corruption. 
 
 
CONNERS