PARLIAMENT’S Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence yesterday accused the Scorpions of “falling prey to information peddlers” by producing what has come to be known as the “Special Browse” report.
The report included claims of a vast conspiracy spanning the African continent to install Jacob Zuma as the future president of South Africa.
The report was leaked in 2007, causing a furore of denials, conspiracy theories and counter-claims.
The Parliamentary Committee found that the report drew on “private intelligence” and informants and should never have been compiled in the first place.
Said committee chair Siyabonga Cwele: “The DSO doesn’t have the mandate to collect political intelligence. They don’t even have the capacity. They fell prey to information peddlers.”
The committee also found that “The document is extremely inflammatory, containing political intelligence and numerous allegations and unsubstantiated statements about prominent political figures in South Africa and the African continent.”
No doubt discussion about this development will, the fine South African tradition, rapidly degenerate into those for Zuma agreeing and those against disagreeing.
Which is a pity, because it would seem at face value that a Parliamentary committee has done its work and its conclusions ought to be respected.
It is wholly inappropriate that a law enforcement agency indulge in the sort of political speculation contained in the browse report. More so because it adds to perceptions — largely erroneous perceptions, it must be said — that the criminal justice system is being abused by politicians wishing to settle scores.
Cwele was at pains to stress that it was not for his committee to recommend what steps, if any, ought to be taken against Scorpions head Leonard McCarthy over the report.
Parliament has done its job and done it well.

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