When vetting fails, SA pays: Madlanga Commission exposes the cost of weak oversight, prison corruption and policies left on paper - IOL

The Madlanga Commission reaches its one-year milestone.

South Africa may have the laws, policies and billions of rands needed to fight corruption and deliver services, but the Madlanga Commission heard this week how weak vetting, criminal influence inside prisons and poor implementation can leave the state exposed and the public paying the price.

In this week’s testimony at the commission, World Bank specialist Laura Pop, Correctional Services national commissioner Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale and Public Service Commission (PSC) chairperson Professor Somadoda Fikeni each exposed a different weakness in the machinery of government.

Their evidence came as the commission marked one year of public hearings into criminality, corruption and political interference in the country’s criminal justice system.

Judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga said on Thursday that the commission had not yet made final findings, but that the evidence emerging pointed to “indications of serious criminality” within the criminal justice system.

Pop warned that conventional asset declarations may not be enough to detect hidden wealth or expose officials compromised by undisclosed interests.

Thobakgale revealed how prison gangs and corruption can undermine security behind bars.

Fikeni delivered perhaps the broadest indictment: South Africa can develop strong policies and allocate substantial resources, but still fail to make them work.

Pop told the commission that ordinary criminal and disciplinary investigations can fall short when institutions themselves are vulnerable to capture.

She argued for stronger integrity evaluations, particularly for senior and high-risk officials.

The key, she said, is the power to verify what officials declare.

A serious vetting system, according to Pop, must be able to access information held by banks, tax authorities and property registries.

Officials' declarations cannot simply be accepted at face value if the state wants to uncover concealed wealth.

Thobakgale said gangsterism has taken shape inside prisons, with an illicit economy built around contraband helping to sustain criminal activity.

He said gangs could groom, bribe or intimidate officials and maintain links with criminal activity outside correctional centres.

“South Africa is a cemetery of best policies in the world, but they are not implemented,” Fikeni said.

Thobakgale also dealt with escapes, including the recent escape of inmate Edward Madiba from Rooigrond Maximum Correctional Centre.

According to his evidence, Madiba told him that officers involved in his earlier escape had threatened him after he began identifying them.

“They approached him to say, ‘Hey, it’s either you leave or we are going to kill you’,” Thobakgale told the commission.

By Friday, Fikeni broadened the discussion from individual integrity and institutional security to how government itself operates.

Fikeni described what he called the “political economy of inefficiency”, arguing that government can have strong policies and governance frameworks while implementation remains weak.

He also pointed to frequent changes in political leadership and the use of acting positions as factors that can slow decision-making and accountability.

“Money is everywhere in this country, except for where it is needed most,” Fikeni said.

He cited about R5 billion returned unused by Land Reform and between R13 billion and R14 billion from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).

His point was that the government can have substantial resources available while departments still fail to spend effectively on pressing needs.

Fikeni also warned that implementation failures can become entrenched.

The commission is expected to resume hearings next week.