2025: the year South Africa grew up

AS THE sun sets on 2025, something unfamiliar is settling over South Africa.

- NYANISO QWESHA

KZN Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. | THOBILE MATHONSI Independent Newspapers

It is not relief. It is not a triumph. It is something far more valuable.Clarity. For years, we were trapped ina tired argument. Either our democracy was collapsing beyond repair, or it was miraculously resilient. Doom or denial. 2025 broke that illusion.

This was the year we stopped debating theory and started watching practice. Not a fairy tale. Not a rescue mission. A rough, imperfect demonstration of a democracy that still knows how to correct itself when pushed hard enough.

When Lieutenant-General Nhlan-hla Mkhwanazi stepped forward and alleged a criminal conspiracy within the heart of the justice system, the country held its breath. We have seen this movie before. Explosive claims. Media frenzy. Then silence. Instead, something different happened.

The response was institutional rather than emotional. A retired Constitutional Court judge was appointed to lead an inquiry. Parliament, often mocked for dysfunction, activated its oversight role. No one was shut down.

No scandal was quietly buried. The system moved slowly and noisily, but it moved. For the first time in a long while, accountability was not a slogan. It was a process in motion. Justice Madlanga’s interim report arrived last week. Its contents will be debated and contested, but the deeper significance lies elsewhere.