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Bad policing and allegations of corruption in businesses and education featured prominently in complaints received by Corruption Watch.
- Whistleblowers have reported more than 2 100 alleged acts of corruption in the country to Corruption Watch.
- Bad policing in 2022 represented the second most frequently reported focus area, accounting for around 11% of corruption claims.
- Completing the top four focus areas were allegations of corruption in business and education, accounting for 8% a piece.
Whistleblowers have reported more than 2 100 alleged acts of corruption in the country to Corruption Watch.
Bad policing and allegations of corruption in businesses and education featured prominently in complaints received by the non-profit organisation.
Corruption Watch, which provides a platform for reporting corruption, released its 2022 Accelerating Justice report on Tuesday.
The organisation said its 11th annual corruption report came at a time when the country was at the lowest point in its democratic history. It said the “consequences of years of graft and corruption have left a visible mark on towns and cities across the length and breadth of the country”.
“Public confidence in the ability of our leaders to reverse the situation is almost non-existent, amid a failing power utility…” Corruption Watch added.
Bad policing in 2022 represented the second most frequently reported focus area, accounting for approximately 11% of allegations of corruption.
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Completing the top four focus areas were allegations of corruption in businesses and education, accounting for 8% apiece.
The range of corrupt acts in the education sector included bribery, sextortion, misappropriation of resources, and abuse of authority in procurement and recruitment processes.
Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape were the provinces where these acts tended to be most prevalent.
According to the report, the types of corruption most reported countrywide included maladministration, including mismanagement of funds, and fruitless and wasteful expenditure, which accounted for 25%; fraud at 17%; and employment irregularities, including nepotism and favouritism, which accounted for 13%.
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Bribery and extortion, including sextortion, accounted for 11%, while dereliction of duty, as well as procurement irregularities, including kickbacks and the flouting of processes, both came in at 9%.
The organisation found an equal spread of reports between national and provincial government levels, which accounted for 28% and 26% of graft allegations, respectively.
“However, it is at a local government that corruption takes the biggest slice of just under two-thirds of whistleblower complaints,” Corruption Watch said.
The biggest culprits were metropolitan municipalities – the City of Johannesburg, the City of Tshwane and the City of Ekurhuleni – which collectively counted for 58% of incidents reported about local government.
Corruption Watch executive director Karam Singh said the organisation adopted a definition of corruption as the abuse of entrusted power or resources, by anyone, for private gain.
Singh added:
This definition seeks to articulate the view that corruption involves a symbiotic relationship between the public and private sectors. It manifests in various ways, from the illicit effort to accumulate power and authority to irregularly influence democratic processes, to outright theft of resources through unlawful redirection and accumulation of state assets.
Singh said bold solutions across the vectors of ensuring accountability, promoting transparency and seeking to embed good governance must be a prime focus for the country to change direction.
“Corruption Watch is intent on accelerating its work to restore justice, equality and access to constitutional and socio-economic rights for all who live in South Africa.
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“This includes ramping up the pressure for transparency and accountability in the implementation of laws, appointments of leaders, procurement processes and adherence to good governance systems, among others.
“There is no time to waste, as the window of opportunity to radically overhaul our anti-corruption efforts, and indeed our current structures and architecture, will not remain open for long. It will require commitment from the whole of society and a steely resolve and determination to bring us back from the brink,” he said.
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