‘A collapsing system’: Experts and civil society say SAPS failures are fuelling fear, corruption and vigilante justice
Criminologist Professor Kholofelo Rakubu says police corruption and failing systems are driving insecurity in South Africa’s poorest areas.
Image: Ayanda Ndamane/ Independent Media
As public confidence in South Africa’s law-enforcement system continues to slide, criminologists warn that the erosion of trust in the South African Police Service (SAPS) is now hitting the country’s poorest communities the hardest, fuelling insecurity, vigilantism and social breakdown.
According to the Human Sciences Research Council, only 22% of South Africans say they trust the police — the lowest figure recorded since 1998. For criminologist Professor Kholofelo Rakubu, these numbers reflect a crisis that has seeped deep into daily life.
“For many South Africans, the collapse of police credibility has become disturbingly routine,” Rakubu told IOL.
“It is no longer shocking when an officer is arrested for corruption or when a suspect walks free because of a missing docket. It has become part of how people expect the system to function — and that is extremely dangerous.”
Professor Kholofelo Rakubu of Tshwane University of Technology
Image: Supplied
Broken trust, rising insecurity
Rakubu said the collapse of trust in policing has far-reaching consequences. Crimes go unreported because residents believe nothing will come of it. Witnesses fear testifying after seeing others threatened or even killed. Community policing forums dissolve as people lose faith.
She said the impact is particularly acute in poor and rural communities.
“In wealthier suburbs, people can hire private security. But in townships and rural areas, residents have nowhere to turn. The state’s withdrawal creates a vacuum, and that vacuum is filled by criminal networks, extortion groups or vigilante structures. Those become the real centres of power.”
When justice fails, she added, even social cohesion begins to crumble.
Commissions expose deep-rooted policing failures
The Madlanga Commission exposed entrenched corruption within SAPS, including allegations of bribery, political interference and the leaking of sensitive intelligence. Testimony implicated suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, with claims that classified information had been sold.
A parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee later reinforced the findings, detailing factionalism, misuse of surveillance equipment and the obstruction of internal investigations — including concerns raised by Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
Despite these revelations, meaningful reform has been slow.
“We have seen this movie before,” Rakubu said. “Commissions come and go, they expose the rot, but nothing changes. South Africans are tired of hearing about accountability that never arrives.”
A nation emotionally exhausted
Analysts say the muted national reaction to new corruption scandals reflects public fatigue rather than indifference.
“People are not indifferent; they are emotionally depleted,” Rakubu said. “When inquiries pile up without consequences, outrage turns into resignation.”
The National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council’s 2025 report paints a bleak picture, warning that corruption now spans healthcare, procurement and law enforcement — even extending to sextortion and youth disillusionment.
While President Cyril Ramaphosa has introduced anti-corruption initiatives, including the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption, Rakubu said these structures remain under-resourced.
“We cannot fight corruption with good speeches and weak institutions. Until officials are prosecuted — not reassigned, not suspended — South Africans will continue to believe that integrity is optional.”
‘Normalising dysfunction’
Rakubu warned that the greatest danger lies in how corruption has become normalised.
“When citizens start accepting dysfunction as normal, democracy begins to die quietly,” she said. “Once corruption stops provoking outrage, it becomes culture — and that is when recovery becomes almost impossible.”
Civil society voices echo the alarm
#NotInMyName president Siyabulela Jentile told IOL that the public is “fatigued by repetition,” noting that new corruption revelations merely fall on ground “already scorched by previous scandals.”
“People no longer see the police as protectors,” Jentile said. “In townships and rural areas, residents feel safer calling community patrols than reporting crimes to SAPS.”
#NotInMyName leader Siyabulela Jentile.
Image: Jonisayi Maromo/ IOL
He warned that a compromised police service “incubates criminality” — giving organised syndicates, drug networks and corrupt officers space to operate unchecked.
“When wrongdoing becomes predictable, accountability becomes optional,” he said.
“Civil society must help rebuild moral outrage and turn it into organised demand for reform.”
This story was initially published on IOL in October 2025.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
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