Four worst corruption hotspots in SA

SA’s economic powerhouses of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, together with Free State, are the hotspots for corruption, highlighting how firmly entrenched the scourge is in one of Africa’s largest and most industrialised economies.

In its annual report released on Wednesday, titled “Changing the Landscape”, Corruption Watch said that since its inception more than 12 years ago it had received more than 46,900 complaints of alleged corruption in SA.

In 2023, the organisation said it received 2,110 reports to do with wrongdoing and malfeasance.

Corruption Watch, a local chapter of global anticorruption body Transparency International, said the predominant types of corruption in 2023 were maladministration, accounting for 34% of reports, followed by fraud (21%), employment irregularities (16%), bribery or extortion (15%) and procurement irregularities 13%.

Of the five municipalities with the highest number of corruption reports, Johannesburg, Tshwane and Cape Town accounted for altogether 71%, with Dannhauser in KwaZulu-Natal and Matjhabeng in the Free State accounting for 15% and 14%, respectively.

“The provincial spread has Gauteng at the top with 37% of complaints, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 19%, Free State with 10%, and the Western Cape with 9%. These provinces, which collectively represent 75% of reports, are all considered to be hotspots for monitoring corruption,” the Corruption Watch report said.

The report comes as SA has regressed on an international index tracking perceptions of corruption in the public sector, stumbling into the category of flawed democracies and just one level above non-functioning regimes.

SA has been dogged by systemic corruption and looting of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). State capture cost the economy an estimated R500bn, and the state capture commission found there was a symbiotic relationship between the ANC and politically connected individuals and private companies. It highlighted how the actions of the Gupta family, through their proximity to former president Jacob Zuma, hollowed out state institutions and repurposed them for their own ends.

“Corruption Watch remains at the centre of the fight against corruption, determined to hold those in power accountable because we understand that this hard-won democracy must be defended by all South Africans who care about the future of their country,” said Corruption Watch board chair Themba Maseko. said.

Corruption Watch executive director Karam Singh said: “We cannot afford to lose any more ground in the fight against corruption and the realisation of human rights.

“It is within the country’s power to change the current landscape if we all work together, starting with a strong turnout at the polls in May,” he said.

“Together we can change the landscape — many of the blueprints are already on the table, including the national anti-corruption strategy and Zondo commission recommendations.”

The anticorruption body said SA’s 30 years of democracy had not delivered on the promise of an equal and just society. Instead it had resulted in “higher unemployment than ever before, rising levels of poverty and inequality, staggering levels of corruption and mismanagement unearthed each year, and continued impunity for those implicated in wrongdoing”.

Cosatu acting national spokesperson Matthew Parks said corruption was a cancer that for “too long was left untreated in the public and private sector. It was allowed and encouraged during the decade of state capture.”

He said: “We are pleased that now we have built a united front led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, across party lines, business, labour and civil society to tackle this cancer. It is only through such united action that we can be victorious.

“This action must be accompanied by the resourcing of key law enforcement organs, the meting out of harsh sentences, the confiscating of stolen assets and holding the guilty accountable.”

Parks said the country was turning the corner against corruption. The SA Revenue Service “is being rebuilt. Significant political scalps are being brought to court. But much more remains to be done.”

SA Federation of Trade Unions spokesperson Trevor Shaku said the federation was worried that corruption in the country remained “alarmingly bad”.

“Businesses are affected from different angles. In one instance they are victims, and in another, they are perpetrators,” Shaku said.

“Companies involved in construction and infrastructure development in our communities are victims of corruption mafias — a syndicate of parasites who extort money out of legitimate businesses,” he said. “In another, they are perpetrators in that they bribe government officials to get outsourcing contracts, engage in accounting fraud, defraud consumers and engage in tax-dodging schemes.”

Shaku said it had been revealed by civil society organisations that illicit financial flows “including tax dodging amount to between 3% and 7% of SA’s GDP annually”.

Corruption Watch said that on a provincial level, these were the subtypes of corruption experienced:

Gauteng:

Fraud: 19%

Bribery/extortion: 16%

Maladministration: 13%

Abuse of power: 10%

Procurement irregularities: 9%

KwaZulu-Natal:

Maladministration: 41%

Fraud: 10%

Bribery/extortion: 7%

Dereliction of duty: 6%

Free State:

Maladministration: 33%

Employment irregularities: 26%

Dereliction of duty: 9%

Procurement irregularities: 7%

Abuse of power: 5%

Western Cape:

Fraud: 24%

Maladministration: 15%

Dereliction of duty: 12%

Abuse of power: 9%

Employment irregularities 9%

Mpumalanga:

Maladministration: 39%

Employment irregularities: 15%

Fraud: 11%

Procurement irregularities 8%

Bribery/extortion: 7%

Limpopo:

Procurement irregularities: 18%

Misappropriation of resources: 16%

Maladministration: 16%

Abuse of power: 12%

Fraud: 11%

Eastern Cape:

Fraud: 17%

Procurement irregularities: 16%

Maladministration: 16%

Abuse of power: 12%

Fraud: 11%

North West:

Maladministration: 21%

Fraud: 18%

Procurement irregularities: 13%

Misappropriation of resources 10%

Bribery/extortion: 10%

Northern Cape:

Maladministration: 22%

Bribery/extortion: 20%

Misappropriation of resources 17%

Abuse of power 10%

Employment irregularities 10%

Update: April 3 2024 — This article has been updated with commentary from labour federations

mkentanel@businesslive.co.za