South Africa’s minister of police is in bed with gangsters, according to a regional police chief. The South African government has fashioned itself as a guardian of international law in recent years, but Pretoria cannot even uphold domestic law as corruption engulfs the upper echelons of its police force.

South Africa put itself on the global stage by taking Israel to the International Court of Justice in December 2023, falsely presenting Jerusalem’s response to Hamas’s October 7 killing spree as genocide. Pretoria has spent millions on this case, borrowing from its legacy of overcoming apartheid and mortgaging its reputation as a beacon of morality.