The proposed Chapter 9 anti-corruption body, nicknamed 'The Eagles', has been a long time coming.

Summarising President Cyril Ramaphosa's 2026 State of the Nation Address (Sona), Rebecca Davis, writing for Daily Maverick, observes:

"Unsurprisingly, given the revelations at the Madlanga Commission, organised crime was placed top of the list as 'the most immediate threat to our democracy', an unprecedented framing that shifts crime from a social ill to a democratic crisis.

"The proposed approach is arguably too intelligence-led, in a country where Crime Intelligence has been deeply compromised in recent years: a new national illicit economy disruption programme targeting tobacco, fuel, alcohol and counterfeit goods; data analytics and AI to identify syndicates.

"A welcome intervention, except if it's carried out by equally compromised state spooks: complete re-vetting of senior police management with lifestyle audits."

There can be little doubt that organised crime and corruption are much more than a mere "social ill" given the dimensions that they have taken in South Africa since, and even before, the rise of Jacob Zuma to the leadership of the ANC in 2007 and the country in 2009.

The Madlanga Commission is, in a sense, a follow-up to the painstaking work done by the Zondo Commission over four years. The latter revealed the rot of State Capture in...