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Given endemic police corruption and Venezuela’s strong military tradition, it was little surprise that Maduro recently turned to the armed forces to serve as a defacto police force, as a short term – but increasingly permanent - solution to widespread insecurity.

The high rate of corruption is due in large part to increasing penetration of organized crime into many federal, state and municipal institutions.

While observers and analysts have applauded the reform initiative, it has not yet led to improved law enforcement. One problem is that it remains underfunded – some measures, such as the wage increase, have yet to be implemented.

‘In the 18 months or so since her appointment, Phiyega and the SAPS have stumbled from one crisis to the next’, reported the Mail and Guardian in a sad account of her performance so far.[7] It’s important to note too that the saga surrounding Transnet for pension plundering during Phiyega’s tenure is ongoing.[8] ABSA is but a part of the world’s biggest bank, Barclays, an institution not adverse to criminal activity either. ‘Ed Miliband demands criminal probe into Barclays interest rate rigging scandal as £3.2bn is wiped off bank in share plunge’, roared a recent Daily Mail news story.[9] The fine the bank got amounted to a tee-hee-hee slap on the wrist; relatively speaking black folk in South Africa have been hit far harder for nicking bread to eat. Of course both instances are damning by association only, but certainly a murky background worth noting if only for the standard business practice and the fluid line between business and politics.

He calls it ‘No-Fly Zone For Legal Eagles’, written in 2015: ‘The presidency is working to remove police and prosecutors who refuse to suspend actions against highly influential people. The decline in independence of South Africa's top criminal justice institutions is accelerating as President Jacob Zuma redoubles his efforts to immunise himself and his entourage from prosecution over corruption. That is the verdict of a growing number of legal experts as more and more senior police officers and prosecutors are removed. Corrupt business links with the governing African National Congress and the Presidency are mounting, so the pressures on prosecutors and investigators to be soft on them multiply. State officials are increasingly facing administrative suspension if they do not comply.’

the decision by opposition political parties to institute their own militias isn`t an act of mere emulation. Rather, it is a protest against how the ruling party and government have been handling democratic transition in the country, at least, and a failure of the establishment to uphold the constitution, at most.

It is my submission that regarding presidential terms limit, under Rwanda’s constitution, Kagame has only two options: either to abide by the Article 101 provision that ‘Under no circumstances shall a person hold the office of President of the Republic for more than two terms’, or overthrow the constitution and his government, which would allow him to write a new constitution.