(SAPS/X)On Wednesday, the first day of the Madlanga inquiry, KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi warned of a “risk of total collapse” in the criminal justice system if reforms are not made to address the concerns he raised in July. He said the syndicates had infiltrated the criminal justice system to undermine law enforcement and protect politicians. “If the allegations are proved to be true, that spells doom for South Africa’s criminal justice system. A healthy criminal justice system is key to the rule of law and in turn to a functioning constitutional democracy,” the retired judge said. He cautioned that malleability, corruption and dysfunction “are a cancer to what a proper criminal justice system should be” and stressed the inquiry’s focus would be on whether the system has been infiltrated by criminal syndicates.