(FROM LEFT) Durban businessman Tariq Downes, Gauteng Crime Intelligence Head Major-General Feroz Khan, and Gauteng Hawks Head Major-General Ebrahim Kadwa appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on May 11. They face charges including corruption, defeating the ends of justice, and unlawful dealing in precious metals. The emerging concern is whether the Hawks remain fit for purpose, says the writer.
Dr. Reneva Fourie
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, better known as the Hawks, was created to be South Africa's premier weapon against organised crime, corruption and complex commercial offences.
Officially launched in 2009, following the controversial disbandment of the Scorpions, the Hawks were presented as a more accountable and integrated law-enforcement body capable of tackling the country's most sophisticated criminal networks.
Yet the events emerging from the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry suggest that South Africa's elite crime-fighting unit has become entangled with the very forces it was created to combat.
