Public confidence in the government's willingness to tackle human rights violations and corruption, and to respect the rule of law, has crumbled.
This is the conclusion of the internationally active NGO Human Rights Watch.
South Africans' lack of confidence in their government's probity rates a mention in the organisation's annual report of almost 700 pages which details violations of human rights in more than 90 countries.
In its press release about the publication of the report, the NGO warned of the rise of populist leaders who are xenophobic or oppose free global trade.
The release singles out US president-elect Donald Trump.
Human Rights Watch CEO Kenneth Roth said: "Trump and various politicians in Europe seek power through appeals to racism, xenophobia, misogyny and nativism. They all claim that the public accepts violations of human rights as supposedly necessary to secure jobs, avoid cultural change, or prevent terrorist attacks.
"In fact, disregard for human rights offers the likeliest route to tyranny."
In the report South Africa is criticised for a wide range of issues, including the failure to hold anyone accountable for the xenophobic violence that flared up between March and May 2015.
"The authorities neither thoroughly investigated nor successfully prosecuted those involved in the attacks," the report said.
"During 2016, South Africa missed key opportunities to consistently place respect for human rights at the centre of its foreign policy," says the report
It slammed South Africa for doing nothing to support protesters in Zimbabwe. The secretary-general of the ANC, Gwede Mantashe, went to far as to call anti-government protesters in Zimbabwe "sponsored elements seeking regime change".
Human Rights Watch noted that about half a million children with special educational needs struggle to get a free education in this country and are turned away from no-fee schools.
The report notes human rights abuses in many African countries, including Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Ethiopia.
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