No doubt, every thinking South African wants to know why high-level criminals are not thrown in jail. As the Madlanga Commission rolls around at what seems like a glacial pace, arrests and punitive action take an even slower toll.
The expression “Tail ’em, Nail ’em, Jail ’em,” fits for the first two steps, with the third left wanting.
Easier said than done
This punchy phrase once made the rounds in probation and parole offices across the US. It’s the kind of slogan that feels decisive, militaristic and tidily efficient. Practically, it’s easier said than done.
Eyes on you
The phrase features in academic papers, policy memos and newspapers from the 1990s onward — usually as shorthand for a surveillance-first approach to community supervision. Probation and parole officers used it (sometimes ironically, sometimes proudly) to describe a mindset: monitor closely (“tail”), document non-compliance (“nail”), and respond with incarceration (“jail”).
Recidivism fears
That hardline posture didn’t spring from nowhere. In the late 20th century, “tough-on-crime” politics, rising incarceration rates and public anxiety about recidivism fed practices that prioritised control over rehabilitation. The slogan became useful shorthand for critics and defenders alike: for reformers, it was the symptom; for hardliners, it was the badge of “public safety first.”
No magic
In its heyday, it was essentially a rallying cry for the ‘tough-on-crime’ era. Back when the thinking went: if you throw enough people in jail, crime will magically disappear – it didn’t. The phrase captured a certain chest-thumping confidence – part justice, part cowboy.
Roll on the 21st century. Now the slogan sounds more like something politicians might say when they’ve run out of actual ideas. We know now that chasing, catching, and caging doesn’t solve the root causes of anything.
A modern makeover
Besides, in an age of social media sleuthing, everyone’s tailing everyone already. We’ve all become mini-detectives — stalking exes on Instagram, “nailing” politicians with screenshots, “jailing” celebrities in the court of public opinion.
Maybe “Tail ’em, nail ’em, jail ’em” just got a modern makeover: ‘Follow, cancel, block.’
Research assisted by AI
Madlanga Commission is the idiomatic cat among the pigeons
