JOHANNESBURG - 'South African Policing has failed.'
That is the scathing assessment from Corruption Watch as the Madlanga Commission marks a year of explosive public hearings.
According to Corruption Watch's Executive Director, Lebogang Ramafoko, it did not have to take a commission to have real accountability in the police sector.
As the inquiry continues to pull back the curtain on high-level rot, Ramafoko claims that it is ordinary citizens who are paying the price for a broken system.
“The commission, in my eyes, gets a 10 out of 10, but policing in South Africa gets a minus five out of 10. If you match what is happening in policing with the discovery of women's bodies all over Ekurhuleni, it tells you that this issue it has real consequences for real people," she said.
Nine bodies of women have been discovered in Ekurhuleni in since July 2026, raising fresh concerns over policing and safety of women in the country.
Ramafoko views the discoveries alongside the revelations that have emerged at the Madlanga Commission and adds that this shows a policing system that has allegedly been "crippled to serve the public by organised crime that has infiltrated the police”.
Ramafoko said If accountability was at the core of governance, the country would not need commissions.
“As good as they are and as important as they are, they are an indictment on the billions that we are paying public service to guard our democracy... And again, it is the vulnerable; it is the poor; it is those that are always at the bottom of their society, which is black women, that are suffering the consequences of a very corrupt, infiltrated police service,” she added.