The 10th edition of the Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) – Africa, released on African Anti-Corruption Day by Transparency International in partnership with Afrobarometer, has revealed that 64 per cent of South Africans surveyed think that corruption levels increased during the past 12 months.
The survey was conducted between the end of July and September 2018.
Of the 47 000 citizens surveyed in 35 African countries, more than half believe corruption is getting worse in their country, while 59 per cent think their government is doing badly at tackling corruption.
In South Africa, a staggering 70 per cent of the participants believe that the government is not doing enough to tackle corruption.
Overall, the police service is considered the most corrupt institution, with a global average of 47 per cent of people believing that most or all police are corrupt; in South Africa, this figure rises to 49 per cent.
As in the 2015 edition of the GCB for Africa, the police consistently exhibit the highest bribery rate across the continent.
In South Africa, 19 per cent of the respondents using police services reported having paid a bribe to the police, up from 3 per cent recorded in 2015. A recent Corruption Watch report, Corruption in Uniform, highlighted the alarming levels of corruption in the policing sector in South Africa.
South Africans also think that local government officials are highly corrupt (45 per cent), followed by government officials and members of Parliament, both at 44 per cent. In addition, 37 per cent believe that most or all business executives are corrupt.
Although those South Africans surveyed generally think that NGOs and religious leaders are less corrupt, it is worth noting that 30 per cent of South Africans surveyed were concerned about corruption in the NGO sector.
On a more positive note, 57 per cent of South Africans surveyed believe that ordinary people can make a difference in the fight against corruption.
David Lewis, executive director of Corruption Watch, said, “While the surveys were undertaken too early to constitute a definitive public judgment on the performance of the Ramaphosa administration, it is clear that the South Africans surveyed, like their counterparts in the rest of the continent, believe that their governments are not doing enough to combat corruption. Indeed, they believe that their public institutions, including key oversight bodies like Parliament and the law enforcement agencies, notably the police, are among the most corrupt. Impunity will rule unless these institutions are cleaned.”
He said this underlines the organisation’s concern with the presence of several thoroughly corrupt parliamentarians, Lewis added, and it vindicates Corruption Watch’s focus on tackling corruption in the criminal justice institutions.
It’s said the GCB is the largest, most detailed survey of citizen views on corruption and bribery in Africa.
“According to the report, the range of corruption challenges that African citizens face is complex and multifaceted, requiring fundamental and systemic changes.
“The report findings show that across Africa, more than 25 per cent of people who accessed public services such as health care and education paid a bribe in the previous year, which is the equivalent of approximately 130 million people.
“The profile of people paying bribes varies according to circumstances and vulnerability. Overall, men are slightly more likely to pay a bribe than women, while the poorest are twice as likely to pay a bribe as the richest people. It is also young people aged 18 to 34 who are more inclined to pay a bribe than people aged 55 and over.”
David added that the report included recommendations for African and international governments to step up their anti-corruption initiatives and commitments to reduce the impact of corruption on the lives of ordinary citizens.
What do you think? Send your opinion to randfonteinherald@caxton.co.za.
