UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA
College of Law — Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
CMY2602: Criminology and Criminal Justice
Assignment 01 — Semester 1, 2026
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
CMY2602
Module Code:
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Module Name:
Assignment 01
Assignment Number:
346636
Unique Number:
Semester 1, 2026
Semester:
[Insert Student Name]
Student Name:
[Insert Student Number]
Student Number:
[Insert Due Date]
Due Date:
25
Total Marks:
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for CMY2602 — UNISA 2026
,UNISA | CMY2602 Assignment 01 — Semester 1, 2026
Contents
1 Question 1: Corruption and Community Mistrust as Challenges to Police Transformation
in South Africa 3
1.1 1.1 Challenge One: Corruption within the SAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.1 1.1.1 Causes of Police Corruption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.2 1.1.2 Impacts of Police Corruption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.3 1.1.3 Prevention Strategies for Police Corruption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2 1.2 Challenge Two: Community Mistrust of the Police . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.1 1.2.1 Causes of Community Mistrust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.2 1.2.2 Impacts of Community Mistrust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.3 1.2.3 Prevention Strategies for Community Mistrust . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2 Question 2: Human Trafficking and the Crime Prevention Pillars Designed to Address It 9
2.1 2.1 What Human Trafficking Entails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2 2.2 The Four Key Crime Prevention Pillars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2.1 2.2.1 Pillar 1: Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.2 2.2.2 Pillar 2: Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.3 2.2.3 Pillar 3: Prosecution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.2.4 2.2.4 Pillar 4: Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Reference List 14
Page 2 of 16
, UNISA | CMY2602 Assignment 01 — Semester 1, 2026
Question 1: Corruption and Community Mistrust as Challenges to Police Transforma-
tion in South Africa
South Africa’s post-apartheid police transformation project has made significant constitu-
tional and legislative strides, yet it continues to be derailed by persistent structural failures
within the South African Police Service (SAPS). Among the many challenges identified in crim-
inological scholarship, two stand out for the depth of their reach: corruption and community
mistrust. Both are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. Where corruption flourishes, trust
collapses; where trust is absent, the police cannot function effectively as a crime-prevention
institution. This discussion examines the causes, impacts, and potential prevention strategies
for each of these two challenges.
1.1 Challenge One: Corruption within the SAPS
1.1.1 Causes of Police Corruption
Police corruption in South Africa is not a product of isolated individual misconduct; it grows
from a combination of structural, institutional, and socio-economic conditions. At the institu-
tional level, several scholars point to weak internal oversight and the absence of meaningful
consequence management as the primary enabling factors. When officers observe that col-
leagues who engage in corrupt acts face little or no disciplinary action, norms of impunity
become entrenched across ranks (Pillay, 2023). The SAPS Code of Ethics exists on paper,
but research consistently shows it is applied inconsistently and that backlogs in disciplinary
cases allow misconduct to go unresolved for years (GSDRC, 2015).
Low officer salaries relative to the cost of living create material conditions that make bribery
attractive, particularly at the street level. This is compounded by what some scholars de-
scribe as a culture of “quasi-promotion” of corrupt acts, where senior officers are implicated
in embezzlement of procurement and training budgets, and rank-and-file officers follow suit,
seeing corruption as both normalised and protected (Gillanders, 2024). The apartheid legacy
cannot be ignored either: an institution historically used as an instrument of racial oppression
was never fundamentally restructured at the cultural level, meaning that predatory relation-
ships between police officers and citizens were not entirely dismantled with the transition to
democracy (Dlamini and Kgatle, 2023).
At the broader societal level, South Africa’s structural inequalities, high unemployment, and
Page 3 of 16
College of Law — Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
CMY2602: Criminology and Criminal Justice
Assignment 01 — Semester 1, 2026
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
CMY2602
Module Code:
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Module Name:
Assignment 01
Assignment Number:
346636
Unique Number:
Semester 1, 2026
Semester:
[Insert Student Name]
Student Name:
[Insert Student Number]
Student Number:
[Insert Due Date]
Due Date:
25
Total Marks:
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for CMY2602 — UNISA 2026
,UNISA | CMY2602 Assignment 01 — Semester 1, 2026
Contents
1 Question 1: Corruption and Community Mistrust as Challenges to Police Transformation
in South Africa 3
1.1 1.1 Challenge One: Corruption within the SAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.1 1.1.1 Causes of Police Corruption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.2 1.1.2 Impacts of Police Corruption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.3 1.1.3 Prevention Strategies for Police Corruption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2 1.2 Challenge Two: Community Mistrust of the Police . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.1 1.2.1 Causes of Community Mistrust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.2 1.2.2 Impacts of Community Mistrust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.3 1.2.3 Prevention Strategies for Community Mistrust . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2 Question 2: Human Trafficking and the Crime Prevention Pillars Designed to Address It 9
2.1 2.1 What Human Trafficking Entails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2 2.2 The Four Key Crime Prevention Pillars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2.1 2.2.1 Pillar 1: Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.2 2.2.2 Pillar 2: Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.3 2.2.3 Pillar 3: Prosecution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.2.4 2.2.4 Pillar 4: Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Reference List 14
Page 2 of 16
, UNISA | CMY2602 Assignment 01 — Semester 1, 2026
Question 1: Corruption and Community Mistrust as Challenges to Police Transforma-
tion in South Africa
South Africa’s post-apartheid police transformation project has made significant constitu-
tional and legislative strides, yet it continues to be derailed by persistent structural failures
within the South African Police Service (SAPS). Among the many challenges identified in crim-
inological scholarship, two stand out for the depth of their reach: corruption and community
mistrust. Both are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. Where corruption flourishes, trust
collapses; where trust is absent, the police cannot function effectively as a crime-prevention
institution. This discussion examines the causes, impacts, and potential prevention strategies
for each of these two challenges.
1.1 Challenge One: Corruption within the SAPS
1.1.1 Causes of Police Corruption
Police corruption in South Africa is not a product of isolated individual misconduct; it grows
from a combination of structural, institutional, and socio-economic conditions. At the institu-
tional level, several scholars point to weak internal oversight and the absence of meaningful
consequence management as the primary enabling factors. When officers observe that col-
leagues who engage in corrupt acts face little or no disciplinary action, norms of impunity
become entrenched across ranks (Pillay, 2023). The SAPS Code of Ethics exists on paper,
but research consistently shows it is applied inconsistently and that backlogs in disciplinary
cases allow misconduct to go unresolved for years (GSDRC, 2015).
Low officer salaries relative to the cost of living create material conditions that make bribery
attractive, particularly at the street level. This is compounded by what some scholars de-
scribe as a culture of “quasi-promotion” of corrupt acts, where senior officers are implicated
in embezzlement of procurement and training budgets, and rank-and-file officers follow suit,
seeing corruption as both normalised and protected (Gillanders, 2024). The apartheid legacy
cannot be ignored either: an institution historically used as an instrument of racial oppression
was never fundamentally restructured at the cultural level, meaning that predatory relation-
ships between police officers and citizens were not entirely dismantled with the transition to
democracy (Dlamini and Kgatle, 2023).
At the broader societal level, South Africa’s structural inequalities, high unemployment, and
Page 3 of 16
