S.Africa parliament votes to disband elite crime unit

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa's parliament on Thursday agreed to dissolve an elite crime-fighting unit accused by some of the political establishment of trying to smear ruling ANC leader Jacob Zuma with a corruption investigation.

The ANC-dominated parliament voted by a margin of four to one to disband the FBI-style Scorpions and merge them into the mainstream police force.

The vote was not a surprise because the unit, established in 1999 to investigate high-profile corruption, had been living on borrowed time since Zuma beat former state President Thabo Mbeki for the ANC leadership in 2007.

Zuma's supporters despised the Scorpions for investigating him in connection with an arms deal. They said the case was part of a political conspiracy hatched by Mbeki and other Zuma enemies to deny the ANC leader the presidency in 2009.

A judge threw out bribery, fraud and other charges against Zuma last month on procedural grounds and said there appeared to have been political meddling in the case. The ruling paved the way for the ANC to oust Mbeki less than two weeks later.

Prosecutors are appealing the judgment.

Supporters said disbanding the Scorpions, who had scored a number of successes in graft cases, would help in the battle against crime.

"There is no doubt that the resulting sense of unity will be in the long-term interest of the fight against crime," Safety and Security Minister Nathi Mthethwa told parliament before it voted on two bills related to the Scorpions.

South Africa has one of highest murder rates in the world.

(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Paul Simao and Matthew Jones)