Corrupt police, broken prosecution: SA’s democratic foundations tremble

The consistent stream of damaging testimony from the Madlanga Commission has shown a criminal justice system in crisis, and the only hope is that serious recommendations address and strengthen an important pillar of the country’s democratic foundations.

In real life, Professor Balthazar is one of South Africa’s foremost legal minds. He chooses to remain anonymous, so it doesn’t interfere with his daily duties.

The outstanding and comprehensive coverage of the Madlanga Commission by Daily Maverick has highlighted a point which, arguably, was known before the advent of the Madlanga Commission, but not in such graphic technicolour – namely that South Africa faces a complete implosion of the central features of the criminal justice system, being the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the South African Police Service.

Agreed, that steps have been taken to staunch the collapse of the NPA by the appointment of advocate Andy Mothibi as the National Director of the NPA.

But, notwithstanding his credentials and ability, he faces an uphill task. In the first place, he is probably the first decent appointment as the head of the National Prosecuting Authority since advocate Vusi Pikoli, who was suspended from his duties by Thabo Mbeki and then subsequently fired by Mbeki’s successor, Kgalema Motlanthe.

As such, he faces the headwind of sustained political interference with his post, which has taken place for almost 20 years. In the second place, the question arises as to who he will be able to trust.

Take, for example, the case of Andrea Johnson. She was heralded as being a new broom when she was appointed as head of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac).

The damning testimony that flowed from the Madlanga Commission creates an overwhelming feeling of pessimism as to how to reform an institution where even those who were held up as crime fighters allegedly engaged in nefarious activity and became the subject matter of egregiously serious accusations.

The situation is even worse insofar as the SAPS is concerned. Again, it must be agreed that there are significant numbers of honest police officers who do their primary task of curbing crime and providing a safe environment for South African citizens. But the consistent stream of testimony that has flowed from the Madlanga Commission raises the obvious question as to the depth and width of the corruption of the SAPS.

Who among the most senior officers can be trusted to run a police force that in any shape or form can fulfil the constitutional obligations of the SAPS?

It might be suggested that the imperative is to appoint someone from outside the police force with an impeccable record of integrity, competence and accountability. But that is easier said than done.

Recall many years ago, when the chief executive of South African Breweries, Meyer Kahn, was persuaded by President Nelson Mandela to leave SAB temporarily in 1997 to become the chief executive of the SAPS, where he served for some two-and-a-half years.

He himself described the SAPS as he found it as “undertrained, underequipped and under-resourced”.