It is a dark time for law enforcement in SA. Top cop Kehla Sithole’s poor showing at the SA Human Rights Commission hearings last week and the shock resignation of the NPA’s investigating directorate head, advocate Hermione Cronje, make it difficult to be enthusiastic about the institutions meant to investigate, arrest and successfully prosecute criminals.

Sithole’s testimony at the commission’s hearings was appalling and did little to assure South Africans of his ability to lead the police...