Judge For Yourself: Mobland
South Africa survived 30 June, but the agent provocateurs are still operating in villages and towns across South Africa. While the Madlanga Commission continues to expose the rot in the SAPS, there’s a question that filters down to the average South African: can the police actually keep us safe?
In another compelling episode of Judge For Yourself, Judge Dennis Davis examines the critical state of South Africa’s police force and its ability to fulfil its constitutional mandate to protect citizens.
Government has patted itself on the back for what is says was a successful June 30 - an exercise that cost the country R600 million. But does one day of relative calm justify self-congratulation when systemic corruption and incompetence still plague day-to-day policing?
The executive management within the SAPS has been rocked by the Madlanga Commission’s revelations, with accusations levelled at the police commissioner himself, alongside his deputy and other top cops. Judge Davis asks a pertinent question: if the highest levels of the institution have been infiltrated, what’s happening in your neighbourhood’s police station?
Without functioning institutions to serve as guardrails, our very democracy is compromised.
In this episode, Judge Davis raises the argument for a complete overhaul of police leadership, alongside the troubling reality where even a top SAPS intelligence official can be gunned down. Not to mention those willing to testify against the corrupt, noting the shooting of Marius van Der Merwe in his own driveway.
"If you don't have institutions that work, you cannot have sustained economic growth and you cannot effectively address the awful legacies that we have failed to address 30 years into constitutional democracy.”
Watch the full episode now.