The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference, and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System, better known as the Madlanga Commission, which runs concurrently with the parliamentary ad hoc committee investigating claims of political interference, proves that there's no single party that can be trusted as the sole vehicle for change.
The Madlanga commission, through testimony from Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and others', has exposed not only corruption and incompetence but also the dangers of political dominance that corrodes accountability and moral leadership.
South Africa has had several commissions of inquiry; many of them have been forgotten, yet they have ripped open the nation’s conscience, exposing a political culture built on entitlement, impunity and greed.
Previous commissions like the Zondo Commission showed how those entrusted with power treated the public office as a personal ATM. The Life Esidimeni hearings revealed the horrific cost of bureaucratic callousness, where 144 vulnerable mental health patients died because officials prioritised contracts over care. And now, the Madlanga Commission reminds us that corruption is an ongoing betrayal.
What ties all these scandals together is not merely individual failure, but systemic rot, the corrosion that comes when one political force dominates too long and begins to mistake itself for the state.
The emergence of coalition politics after the 2024 elections, chaotic as it may seem, should be embraced, not feared, as it seems South Africa is past single majority politics.
South Africans must now shed the illusion that salvation will ever come from one logo or liberation slogan. True change will come only when citizens reclaim ownership of their democracy, when they demand performance, not promises, and integrity, not struggle credentials.
There has never been a time when active citizenship was needed more than now. Active citizenry is necessary in arresting the rot in the public service.
The commissions have done their part by exposing the truth. The question now is whether the public will do theirs by refusing to give any political party a blank cheque ever again.