Oversight Agencies in South Africa and the Challenge of Police Corruption

This paper outlines the challenge of tackling corruption in the South African Police Service (SAPS). It then sketches the history and structure of three of South Africa’s main police oversight bodies: parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police, the Secretariat for police, and the Independent Complaints Directorate, and asks how these structures have dealt with corruption in the SAPS in recent years, offering suggestions for future engagement. The paper also seeks to identify possible areas in which civil society can better support the structures in their work.

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