Prof. DQ Mabunda: Mkhwanazi has given SA a chance to fix itself

As South Africans brace themselves for another week of revelations about police capture and political capture, Chris Steyn speaks to Professor DQ Mabunda, a former police officer, now lecturing in Police Practice at the School of Law at UNISA. He says if a lower-ranking officer had tried to stand up and speak up against corruption, he or she would have been sanctioned or even suspended. “But we thank General Mkhwanazi for what he has come out to tell the society that there is a rot somewhere. And it's a good opportunity for us to identify that rot and fix it and move ahead as a developing country.” Professor Mabunda says it would take time, political will, determination, and good leadership” to clean out of the whole criminal justice system - and he warns that if recommendations coming out of the enquiries were regarded as “just recommendations”, the country would be doomed. “But hopefully, the men and women of integrity in this country will stand up and say, we will not allow corrupt officials to rule this country.”