WATCH: SA inquiries stir confusion as drama outpaces evidence

South Africa’s parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee and the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry are dominating public debate with concerns that round-the-clock broadcasts and clipped social-media extracts are distorting the public’s understanding of two serious probes. 

While the committee and inquiry aim to promote transparency around allegations of corruption within the police service, commentators argue that the stream of untested claims is generating confusion rather than clarity.

The broader issue, analysts say, is a public worn down by years of political scandal and increasingly sceptical of competing claims.

"The commission, the ad hoc committee, has all become political theatre, but I think you can make the argument, so has politics in South Africa.

"South Africans are exhausted by the constant revolving door of scandals happening in this country. 

"The problem is that these commissions and inquiries take time," says Roos.