I’m always reminded to double check numbers, whether they be percentages, calculations etc. And this is a case in point. On initial inspection, hope springs, South Africa jumped 6 places in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2015. But the next line dampens it all. South Africa scored exactly the same as 2014, which doesn’t say much. The problem is the perception around corruption is growing globally, given South Africa’s jump in position. And the news flow around corrupt activities shows the problem is there, and it seems the only way to improve it, is to prosecute. – Stuart LowmanÂ
By Genevieve Quintal, News24
Johannesburg – South Africa has moved from 67 to 61st place on Transparency International’s (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2015.
This indicated that perceptions around the extent of corruption in the country was stabilising.
The country’s score of 44 on the index however remained unchanged from 2014, Corruption Watch said in a statement on Wednesday.
A country’s score referred to the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 to 100. Zero meant a country was perceived to be highly corrupt and 100 that it was clean.
There were 168 countries on the 2015 index.
“The good news is that for the second year in succession, our score, as measured by the CPI, has remained the same and our ranking has improved slightly,” Corruption Watch’s executive director David Lewis said.
“The bad news is that we are still ranked amongst those countries perceived to have a serious corruption problem, with our ranking perilously close to those countries suffering from endemic corruption.”
He said the country had to turn the situation around adding that it could not afford to fall any further.
The CPI was compiled from a composite of surveys conducted during the year by organisations such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The individuals surveyed were largely public and private sector leaders and academics, Corruption Watch said.
Government’s ‘poor job’
The organisation said the stability in perceived corruption revealed by the CPI was at odds with another important TI survey, the African edition of the Global Corruption Barometer (GCB), released in December last year.
The GCB revealed that 83% of South Africans polled believed that corruption was increasing and 79% believed that government was doing a poor job of combating corruption.
“The difference between the two important surveys is explained by the different character of the respondents,” said Lewis.
Read also: Must Watch: Just how corrupt is South Africa, who’s to blame?
“The opinion makers surveyed for the CPI see evidence that key pockets of government are deeply concerned about corruption.”
He said this was particularly true of important opinion-shapers such as the National Treasury.
‘Getting away with it’
However, the “ordinary” South Africans surveyed by the GCB saw prominent political and public and private sector leaders at all levels continuing to loot their towns, provinces and national government on a grand scale and getting away with it.
“Their perceptions are equally valid. The good work of those serious about combatting corruption is overshadowed by those who continue to behave with impunity,” Lewis said.
Corruption Watch believed that the way forward was to demonstrate that no-one was above the law.
“As long as people with wealth and political power are perceived to be above the law, our public and private sectors – as well as our political institutions – will be seen to be riddled with corruption.” – News24
Source:Â http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/sa-moves-five-places-on-corruption-perception-index-20160127
Press statement from Transparency International
2015 showed that people working together can succeed in the battle against corruption. Although corruption is still rife globally, more countries improved their scores in the 2015 edition of Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index than declined.
Overall, two-thirds of the 168 countries on the 2015 index scored below 50, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean).
Yet in places like Guatemala, Sri Lanka and Ghana, citizen activists in groups and on their own worked hard to drive out the corrupt, sending a strong message that should encourage others to take decisive action in 2016.
“Corruption can be beaten if we work together. To stamp out the abuse of power, bribery and shed light on secret deals, citizens must together tell their governments they have had enough.
“The 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index clearly shows that corruption remains a blight around the world. But 2015 was also a year when people again took to the streets to protest corruption. People across the globe sent a strong signal to those in power: it is time to tackle grand corruption,” said José Ugaz, Chair of Transparency International.
Grand corruption is the abuse of high-level power that benefits the few at the expense of the many, and causes serious and widespread harm to individuals and society. It often goes unpunished.
This year Transparency International is calling on all people to take action by voting at unmaskthecorrupt.org. We want to know which cases the public most believe merit urgent attention to send a message that we will take a stand against grand corruption.
Brazil was the biggest decliner in the index, falling 5 points and dropping 7 positions to a rank of 76. The unfolding Petrobras scandal brought people into the streets in 2015 and the start of judicial process may help Brazil stop corruption.
Good news stories on the fight against corruption can be found on our website here about Mongolia, here on Guatemala and here on whistleblowing and include successes from our network of more than 100 chapters.
The results
The index covers perceptions of public sector corruption in 168 countries.
Denmark took the top spot for the 2nd year running, with North Korea and Somalia the worst performers, scoring just 8 points each.
Top performers share key characteristics: high levels of press freedom; access to budget information so the public knows where money comes from and how it is spent; high levels of integrity among people in power; and judiciaries that don’t differentiate between rich and poor, and that are truly independent from other parts of government.
In addition to conflict and war, poor governance, weak public institutions like police and the judiciary, and a lack of independence in the media characterise the lowest ranked countries.
The big decliners in the past 4 years include Libya, Australia, Brazil, Spain and Turkey. The big improvers include Greece, Senegal and UK.
The Corruption Perceptions Index is based on expert opinions of public sector corruption. Countries’ scores can be helped by open government where the public can hold leaders to account, while a poor score is a sign of prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that don’t respond to citizens’ needs.
