The ANC conference in Polokwane nine years ago did more than just elect Jacob Zuma as leader. It mandated that only such a national conference - sitting every five years - could hire or fire the leader, it packed the national executive committee with Zuma sycophants and, crucially, it killed the Scorpions, the crime-fighting unit that had been Zuma's nemesis.It is this Polokwane package that has protected Zuma, making him unassailable, impregnable, untouchable. Coming out of Polokwane, Zuma the crime suspect suddenly became the master of all he surveyed. Everybody was under his thumb.The NEC, the ANC's highest policy-making body, became a collection of supplicants; bringing him to heel became the furthest thing from its mind.story_article_left1And who's the brave soul who'd utter anything mildly critical with Zuma sitting across the table?But it is the destruction of the Scorpions that, in retrospect, has proved most calamitous. Corruption flourished.But more importantly, the move had a chilling effect on other independent institutions and ensured that the unit's successors, the Hawks, would know their place. Zuma and his cronies could loot to their hearts' content.In Polokwane, Thabo Mbeki was not only defeated by Zuma; he was humiliated. Overnight he became a spent force.Although he was still the country's president, he didn't seem to have the stomach to resist the tsunami that was unleashed in Polokwane. He was also not a man of a mind to defy his organisation.The Scorpions had to be dispatched to the dustbin of history, and quickly. The entire tripartite alliance mobilised to kill it. It was a weird, even scary, moment in our history. Fairly sensible individuals would suddenly foam at the mouth like rabid dogs at the mere mention of the Scorpions. The unit had made the unforgivable error of investigating their hero.It didn't occur to the lynch mob that their problem may have been solved by the removal of Mbeki, whom they had accused of using the Scorpions as his political tool; or alternatively, that they, too, could use the Scorpions now that their man was in charge.No, the Scorpions had to go. It was like a frenzy that could not be doused or quenched unless the thing was mercilessly clubbed to death.The political groundwork for the death of the Scorpions having been prepared, somebody had to carry out the execution. That task fell on the gallant shoulders of Menzi Simelane, director-general at the Justice Department, and Yunus Carrim, chairman of the portfolio committee on justice and constitutional development, who shepherded the bill to kill it through parliament.block_quotes_start If the Hawks are keen on doing a proper job, Zuma seems a singularly ideal target. Why not start by investigating him? block_quotes_endIt was their finest achievement, and they were amply rewarded. But like many of Zuma's useful idiots, their shining hour was short-lived. Simelane was appointed national director of public prosecutions by Zuma, but was found to be unfit to hold the position by the Constitutional Court.Carrim became communications minister, but was discarded, his job given to the misnamed Faith Muthambi.Out of the ashes of the Scorpions rose the Hawks, currently hounding Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. Pleas have been made for Zuma to stop Gordhan's harassment, which is creating havoc in the markets.Some have posed the question as to why people who criticised Mbeki for interfering with Vusi Pikoli's intention to charge Jackie Selebi were now calling on Zuma to stop the Hawks from investigating Gordhan. It's a relevant question, but also naïve and a bit disingenuous.Berning Ntlemeza, who heads the Hawks, is a hired gun who seems totally oblivious of the consequences of his actions. He's a former apartheid foot soldier, and converts make for eager sycophants.story_article_right2His priority is thus to curry favour with the man who's appointed him to such an exalted position despite his shortcomings.The charges against Gordhan are spurious and laughable. If the Hawks are keen on doing a proper job, Zuma seems a singularly ideal target. Why not start by investigating him?But the fundamental point is that the Hawks were deliberately designed to be bereft of the zeal and the independence of the Scorpions. Zuma could not have destroyed the Scorpions only to recreate it under a different name or guise.They are like putty in his hands. It is the classic case of the fox guarding the chicken coop. He calls the shots over the Hawks in a way that no one did with the Scorpions. Which is why it was so glaring when Mbeki clumsily tried to save Selebi's skin.Zuma doesn't interfere. He doesn't have to. His acolytes know what is expected of them. Those who fail to follow the script, like Anwa Dramat, soon get into trouble.But we should not be surprised at the carnage Zuma is wreaking. We knew from the beginning he was flawed, a man devoid of any moral fibre. The question is, who cleans up the mess after he's gone, and how.But those who stay silent or cheer as Zuma rapes the country, and are therefore complicit in its destruction, cannot lay any claim to lead it in future...