'We don’t take sides': Hawks rubbish claims they're being used to settle political scores

JOHANNESBURG - The priority crime investigating directorate, the Hawks, have rubbished accusations that they are being used to settle political scores following a number of high-profile arrests this year.

SA Football Association (SAFA) president, Danny Jordaan, is the latest senior government official to be arrested for corruption by the directorate.

It follows hot on the heels of other high-profile arrests linked to corruption, including that of former parliamentary Speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and former African National Congress (ANC) spokesperson, Zizi Kodwa.

There have been suggestions from some of the arrested persons that the country's law enforcement agencies are being weaponised for political score-settling.

At a media engagement on Thursday, national Hawks head, Godfrey Lebeya, reiterated that the unit only acted based on the evidence before it.

"What the public can be assured of, is we do our work without fear, favour or prejudice. We don’t take sides, we are actually not interested as to what kind of job you are doing, where you are working, we are not interested in knowing which political party you belong, we look at the crime that is alleged to have been committed."