South Africa’s new serious-crime squad has begun work six months after its FBI-style predecessor was disbanded amid claims of political bias.

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation is intended to take on organised and white-collar crime.

Its predecessor, known as Scorpions, pursued several senior figures from the ruling ANC, including Jacob Zuma, who became president in May.

The ANC’s opponents said the Scorpions’ abolition was a political move.

But critics of the elite crime unit said the investigators were too focused on bringing down members of the ANC.

Jealousy

Mr Zuma’s supporters maintained that the corruption charges brought against him were part of a political plot to prevent him becoming president by allies of Mr Zuma’s rival, former President Thabo Mbeki.

The charges were dropped in April after a tape-recording emerged which suggested that the prosecution had been politically motivated.

Mr Mbeki has always denied such suggestions.

The Scorpions also had notoriously bad relations with the police.

The BBC’s Mohammed Allie, in Cape Town, says the new squad should not suffer from similar problems because it will operate under the wing of the police services.

He says the relationship between the police and the Scorpions was characterised by jealously and lack of co-operation.

The new unit will, however, include many former members of the Scorpions, he said.

It is headed by Anwa Dramat, the relatively unknown former deputy police chief of Western Cape province.

This article is from the BBC News website.