The public will have to wait until October this year to find out how the law will be changed to make the Hawks free from political pressure and influence.
Parliament voted in 2008 to do away with the Scorpions anti-corruption unit and replace it with the Hawks. But in response to a legal challenge from businessman Hugh Glenister, the Constitutional Court ruled earlier this year that the Hawks were not sufficiently independent of political pressure.
The court overturned parts of the National Prosecuting Act and SA Police Services (SAPS) Act that had established the Hawks.
Hawks chief Anwar Dramat was billed to discuss the ‘Glenister ruling’ with parliament’s police committee this morning.
But after outlining the March 2011 Constitutional Court judgment, Dramat said he could not give any details of what the new law would contain.
He would only say that an internal police team was working on a draft policy document and bill and that this would be discussed with “relevant and affected government role players” in September 2011.
He said that the cabinet would have to ratify the changes in October, so that the new law could be tabled before parliament this year.
The Constitutional Court gave parliament 18 months to comply with its ruling, meaning that the new law must be in place by September 17 2012.
Lawson Naidoo, executive secretary of the Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution, voiced concern after the meeting that the police might take the minimalist approach of getting state law advisers to “tweak” the bill enough to make it constitutional.
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