Authored By: Vuntshwa Shilenge
University of South Africa
INTRODUCTION
Approximately 64 murder cases, 75 attempted murders, 435 cases of assault with serious bodily harm, and 106 rape cases were reported between 2025 and 2026.[1] Such statistical reports tend not to shock South African individuals because the crime rate is not deemed to be reaching its peak. This matter raises the question: Is the nation being suffocated under those who are entrusted with the implementation of laws to protect its individuals? South Africa, the motherland, known for its beautiful architectural structures, lakes, mountains, oceans, and forests, is under the serious pandemic of a high crime rate that results in the criminal justice system being undermined.
Allegedly, the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry is running an investigation into several demises of certain South African citizens who were brutally murdered, and tenders that have been acquired through corruption are also under legal examination. Unlawful deals that have been concluded with people who are behind bars are now being exposed, and arrests of individuals involved are occurring. Most governmental bodies whose names were raised in these matters were summoned to respond to the inquiries. It is quite surprising to see people who are entrusted to be organs of states, the front desk of the criminal justice system, such as police officers in higher ranks, getting arrested due to unlawful acts. Such acts happening in South Africa are more concerning, especially to its citizens. Some people no longer use the bridge that has been built between them and the criminal justice system to deal with crime. When law enforcement officers are seen as the reception of the criminal justice system and disobey the Constitution itself, while knowing the prohibitions and consequences of doing so, that will surely lead to individuals undermining the law.
HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
- Definition of the criminal justice system
The criminal justice system is a broad system of governmental bodies, all of them with an aim to tackle distinct criminal acts, restore and maintain public order, and ensure that people obey the law. Since the Constitution is the sovereign source of law, and no law or rule can go against it, the process of crime prevention and restoring societal order must correspond with it.
During ancient times, individuals were led by traditional leaders, where no strict or formal process or system existed.[2] By that time, people believed in taking an offender and a victim to the traditional ruler, who had the authority to come up with a final judgment. Criminal penalties were severe in a way that some offenders would get a death sentence, get banned from the area, or be ordered to compensate the victim. The system was flexible in a way that the principles of Ubuntu would also apply in specific matters, where families would mend things through harmony and reconciliation. The family of the offender would offer a sacrifice or a gift, such as a cow and beads, as a symbol of peace offering to the victim’s family. As time went on, traditional leaders’ authority over criminal matters began to be limited. Individuals were ordered to drop their norms and adapt to the criminal justice system rules. The foundation of the relationship between the criminal justice system and society is trust.
- How the governmental power is divided
During the apartheid regime, the governmental power was vested in the parliament. Parliament was the highest law of the land, and its word could not be challenged. This led to some biased, unfair laws getting passed without a background examination on how they would be substantively or procedurally unfair to others. Through the establishment of the Constitution, this is where the separation of powers principles was established with the vision of preventing the abuse of power towards those who are in subordinate positions by the organs of state. The legislative has a task of formulating laws, the executive (the president and his cabinet) is obligated to execute laws, and the judiciary has the authority to create common law and to interpret the law.[3] Governmental officials cannot enforce socialism and expect development in the legal system of the country. The power surely had to be divided to maintain order and the fairness of the law. The way laws were overturned, and amendments were made to bury the apartheid era and bring a new leaf of freedom and equality, says a lot about the importance of respecting the Constitution.
NEGATIVE IMPACTS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SOCIETY AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
- Increasing of Crime Rate
Certain types of crimes make a huge contribution to increasing the peak of the crime rate statistics in South Africa. Gender-based violence is one of the crimes that has a dangerous venom that is causing extreme damage in our country. This form of violence is based on gender, and it is not one-sided. On 25 Nov 2025, people in different cities of South Africa were wearing black clothes while marching down the streets as a way of raising their concerns about GBV. This march clashed with the G20 Social Summit, where President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that South Africa has declared gender-based violence as a national pandemic.[4] The judicial precedent analyzed all the facts in Mhlambi v S, where the applicant’s appeal was not successful after it was proved that he sexually assaulted his wife’s younger sister.[5] He got sentenced to eighteen years plus six months on the grounds of two charges: indecent assault and rape. Gender-Based Violence has a huge negative impact on society. Criminal offences such as cash-in-transit robbery mostly happens in South Africa, which also results in murders. By looking at the rate of unemployed youth who are also addicted to drugs, drug offences are a huge problem in South Africa because that is how the country’s future is buried.
- Justice Delayed is Justice Denied
Delays in the justice system send a negative message to those who are offended and the public itself: that the State is unwilling to act in the favour of its people. For example, on 30 Mar 2026, South Africans were marching down the streets of East London, in KuGompo, expressing their anger through a protest over the issue of the coronation of a Nigerian man as a king by his community. The expression of anger by South Africans manifested in serious vandalism of buildings and burning of vehicles. Police officials were deployed to control the situation, but the situation descended into chaos. Such incidents show that quick responses from the government and law would prevent such public violence from happening. Silent or delayed responses are perceived as a disrespect, and that results in fists of emotions from people to the State.
- Involvement of Trusted Bodies in Crime
Crime in South Africa has spread beyond townships and villages into suburbs and estates. While offences committed by lower-income communities often receive more attention and reaction from law officials, they are also used to justify effective policing. Serious crimes such as drug offences, corruption, political murders, money laundering, and fraud are often committed by parties in positions of trust, government officials, business owners, celebrities, and influencers with a great audience. When police officers and politicians themselves become part of criminal syndicates, public confidence in the criminal justice system is eroded and its authority undermined.
- Unresolved Criminal Cases
Due to multiple cases where justice did not prevail, most people ended up taking the law into their own hands. Victims who did not get justice start doubting and feeling betrayed by the system. Some victims of crime do not even file charges against offenders anymore because of the conclusion that the law will not intervene. The justice system proved its integrity and policies in dealing with crime through the case of S v Ndlovu, where the accused murdered multiple members of her family, and she would first open insurance policies before murdering them. It was easy for the victims to trust her when she asked for their personal details, such as their identity documentation copies, because she was a police officer and a family member. She was sentenced to life imprisonment.[6] Her case shocked society because what she did was found unusual, but it gave the criminal justice system good feedback and appreciation. Rapid responses and effective investigations of crimes committed and fairly serving justice to the people will make people trust in the criminal justice system abundantly.
- Wrongful Convictions
Wrongful convictions send a message of the failure of justice to society because they violate a person’s fundamental rights to human dignity and freedom.[7] The consequences of such misunderstanding between the convicted and the justice system extend far beyond imprisonment or rehabilitation: a wrongfully convicted person can lose their job, the family and community trust, and their reputation. Even after they have been released, it may take time for reintegration to occur because stigma and distrust often linger. In such cases, the criminal justice system intended to restore order and deliver justice, instead of inflicting lasting harm on the innocent.
CONCLUSION
Public violence due to crime and citizens’ anger towards the justice system is not a matter that can be swept under the carpet because it will lead to more crime and violence. To maintain public order and gain robust trust from society, the criminal justice system should not raise negative questions or thoughts by failing individuals or allowing the trust to be broken. It is the duty of the judicial system to promote the spirit of freedom, human dignity, and equality.[8] Since governmental power has been divided among different branches or organs of the state, the aim is to continue transforming the Constitution into the supreme law of the land. The criminal justice system should prove to people that fighting for liberation during the apartheid law oppression was not a key for certain people to commit crimes. People are not supposed to reach a point where they ask themselves if ancient laws were better than the new system of justice. Individuals are supposed to see the criminal justice system as a better way of dealing with crime than the ancient system of justice that derived from African Customary Law. The substantive and procedural processes of the justice system should be fair.
Based on this matter, it is a fundamental idea for the criminal justice system to maintain its trust with society. South African citizens deserve justice for all criminal cases that are supposed to be prosecuted. All cases should be treated fairly and without bias or favouritism because they all matter, which means all victims matter.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ally D, G P Kemp, Mokoena M T, Swanepoel J P, Terblanche S S, van de Merwe S E, Criminal Procedure (13th edn, JUTA 2020)
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,1996
International Journal of Legal Science and Innovation, ‘The Social Consequences of Wrongful Convictions’ (2024) 6(3) 750
Mhlambi v S (A252/2022) [2025] ZAGPPHC 580
Ngcobo K, Maseko N, and Kupemba D N, ‘South Africa calls gender violence a national disaster after protests’ (BBC Africa, 21 Nov 2025) www.bbc.com
Spies A and Maseko T, Fundamental Rights (1st edn, University of South Africa 20216) 57
S v Ndlovu (5572/2019) [2021] ZAGPJHC 900
Van Staden M, ‘Simple solutions to violent crime that the political elite has no interest in’ (FMF, 4 Dec 2025) www.freemarketfoundations.com accessed 7 Jan 2026
[1] M van Staden, ‘Simple solutions to violent crime that the political elite has no interest in’ (FMF, 4 December 2025) www.freemarketfoundation.com accessed 7 January 2026
[2] D Ally, GP Kemp, M T Mokoena, J P Swanepoel, S S Terblanche, S E van der Merwe, Criminal Procedure (13th edn, JUTA 2020)
[3] A Spies and T Maseko, Fundamental Rights (1st edn, University of South Africa 2016) 57
[4] K Ngcobo, N Maseko and D N Kupemba, ‘South Africa calls gender violence a national disaster after protests’ (BBC Africa, 21 November 2025) www.bbc.com accessed 21 November 2025
[5] Mhlambi v S (A252/2022) [2025] ZAGPPHC 580
[6] S v Ndlovu (SS72/2019) [2021] ZAGPJHC 900
[7] International Journal of Legal Science and Innovation, ‘The Social Consequences of Wrongful Convictions’ (2024) 6(3) 750
[8] Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,1996
