Public trust in South Africa’s institutions has plunged to its lowest levels in more than two decades, with the South African Police Service (SAPS) emerging as one of the worst-performing arms of government.

According to the Human Sciences Research Council, only 22% of South Africans say they trust the police — the lowest figure since 1998. Experts warn that this credibility crisis is not merely institutional but has devastating social consequences.

Renowned criminologist Professor Kholofelo Rakubu, Head of Department at Tshwane University of Technology’s merged Department of Law, Safety and Security Management, told IOL that corruption and dysfunction within the police have become so entrenched that citizens now see them as “part of everyday life.”

“For many South Africans, the collapse of police credibility has become disturbingly routine,” Rakubu said. “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.”

Broken Trust, Rising Insecurity

Rakubu said the effects of a compromised police service ripple through every layer of society.

“Crimes go unreported because people do not believe anything will come of it,” she said. “Witnesses are afraid to testify because they have seen others threatened or even killed. When communities stop believing in justice, the rule of law begins to collapse.”

She added that poorer areas suffer the worst consequences.

“In wealthier suburbs, residents can hire private security. But in townships and rural areas, people 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.”

The breakdown in trust, Rakubu warned, is eroding social cohesion itself.

“When justice fails, neighbours stop trusting one another. Community-policing forums collapse because people feel they are wasting their time. Young people grow up thinking that corruption is simply how South Africa works — and that is how apathy and rebellion take root.”

Madlanga Commission and Ad Hoc Committee: Deep-Rooted Rot

The Madlanga Commission laid bare the depth of SAPS corruption, exposing systemic bribery, political interference, and leaked intelligence operations. Testimony before the inquiry implicated suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, with claims that classified information was sold for cash.

The subsequent parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee reinforced those findings, pointing to factionalism within SAPS, misuse of surveillance equipment, and obstruction of internal investigations, including allegations raised by Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

Despite the damning revelations, progress on implementing the recommendations has been painfully slow.

“We have seen this movie before,” Rakubu remarked. “Commissions come and go, they expose the rot, but nothing changes. South Africans are tired of hearing about accountability that never arrives. It’s business as usual, and that’s exactly what corrupt networks rely on.”

A Nation Numbed

Analysts say the muted public response reflects corruption fatigue — a collective exhaustion after years of scandals and stalled inquiries.

“People are not indifferent; they are emotionally depleted,” Rakubu explained. “Every few months there is another inquiry, another promise, another scandal. Citizens feel powerless. That emotional burnout is what allows corruption to persist — because outrage has turned into resignation.”

The National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council’s 2025 report paints a bleak picture: corruption now spans healthcare, law enforcement, and procurement — even extending to sextortion and youth disillusionment.

While President Cyril Ramaphosa’s anti-corruption strategies, including the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption, have shown intent, experts say these initiatives are under-resourced and inconsistently implemented.

“We cannot fight corruption with good speeches and weak institutions,” Rakubu cautioned. “Until the people responsible are prosecuted — not reassigned, not suspended, but prosecuted — South Africans will continue to believe that integrity is optional.”

‘Normalising Dysfunction’

The growing sense of resignation, Rakubu warned, poses a deeper threat than corruption itself.

“When citizens start accepting dysfunction as normal, democracy begins to die quietly,” she said. “The tragedy is not only that corruption exists, but that it is no longer shocking. Once corruption stops provoking outrage, it becomes culture — and that is when recovery becomes almost impossible.”

Until the recommendations of the Madlanga Commission and the Ad Hoc Committee are fully implemented — and those implicated held accountable — South Africa’s policing crisis will continue to corrode both public safety and national morale.

On Tuesday, IOL reported that South Africans are watching yet another wave of corruption revelations — from Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s explosive claims about criminal infiltration in the police, to testimony before Parliament’s ad hoc committee and the Madlanga Commission — with weary eyes.

Across townships, suburbs and rural communities, the reaction is the same: not shock, but exhaustion and fatigue. For many, these scandals have become a grim ritual in a democracy that promised integrity but has delivered repetition.

“We are fatigued by repetition”

 Siyabulela Jentile, president of #NotInMyName

What the country is witnessing, according to Jentile, “isn’t new — it’s the continuation of a long, painful story of institutional betrayal.”

“South Africans are not numb by choice; we are fatigued by repetition. Each revelation of corruption lands on ground already scorched by previous scandals — from state capture to failures in local governance. When accountability becomes the exception rather than the norm, outrage slowly turns into resignation.”

Public trust in the South African Police Service (SAPS), he said, has been profoundly eroded.

“People no longer see the police as protectors but as an extension of a state that has lost moral authority. In townships and rural areas, residents feel safer calling community patrols or neighbourhood-watch groups than reporting crimes to SAPS.”

The consequences, Jentile warned, are devastating.

“A compromised police service doesn’t just fail to solve crimes; it incubates criminality. It gives organised syndicates, drug networks, and corrupt officers room to operate with impunity. It means gender-based violence cases go uninvestigated, children disappear without trace, and communities resort to vigilantism.”

For Jentile, corruption has “festered into our national fabric.”

“We joke about it, anticipate it, even budget for it. That’s the danger: when wrongdoing becomes predictable, accountability becomes optional. But the fact that people are no longer shocked is not a sign of acceptance — it’s a symptom of exhaustion. Civil society must help rebuild that moral outrage and turn it into organised demand for reform.”

*This article was first published by IOL News