International watchdog organisation Corruption Watch released an annual report that takes a look at the different levels of corruption in South Africa and its impact on citizens.
The crux of the report is to emphasise how corruption destroys democracy, and how this results in the abuse of power and a lack of accountability.
Speaking to BusinessTech, Corruption Watch’s Executive Director, David Lewis, said that pillars of power such as Parliament were “compromised” and contributed to the era of State Capture.
“On the other hand, we saw how other institutions of our democracy led the fight back against state capture. Robust and independent civil society, media and judiciary are key indicators of a functioning democracy and in our country, these are widely acknowledged for their leading role in confronting state capture,” he said.
The biggest trends in corruption reported by the public over the past year include the abuse of power, bribery and procurement.
Of the 4 200 corruption reports received in 2018, the majority were received from provincial government departments. National departments and local government followed in third place.
Gauteng had the highest number of recorded reports, as 45% of all cases originated from the province. “This, we believe, is largely explained by the relatively large population of Gauteng, the scale of economic activity and the fact that national government administration is headquartered in the province,” Corruption Watch said. “For the first time, Limpopo made the top three with 8% of reports, most likely a result of Corruption Watch’s public awareness drive in the province in late 2017.”
The Western Cape is the forth most corrupt province in the country, followed by the Eastern Cape, North West Province, the Free State, and the Northern Cape.
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