SA a festival of fraud, latest Corruption Watch report shows
By Michael Appel
Fraud accounts for at least 35% of corruption reported across the board – in the public/private sector – in South Africa, followed by abuse of authority (17%), maladministration (17%), bribery and extortion (16%), and procurement-related wrongdoing (15%).
The sixth edition of Corruption Watch's (CW's) Analysis of Crime Trends (ACT) report is compromised of 1,037 whistleblower reports received by the anti-corruption watchdog in the first six months of 2022. This represents just 3% of the total number of whisteblower reports compiled since CW opened its door in 2012, at a staggering 37,000 reports over the last decade.
The ACT report differs from something like the Corruption Perceptions Index and Global Corruption Barometer in that it is data drawn directly from cases brought to CW by whistleblowers. There's quite a disproportionate spread between reported crimes in the public versus private sector with a 62%/25% split. The remaining 13% of whistleblower reports couldn't be placed in either category.
Unsurprisingly, the country's economic hub Gauteng is the biggest culprit with 43% of corruption allegations emanating there, followed by the Western Cape (9%), KZN (8%), and Limpopo (8%).
At a local government level, the Auditor General continually paints a very bleak picture in terms of transparency, accountability and service delivery. The City of Johannesburg (36%) is implicated in the most number of whistleblower reports, followed by the City of Tshwane (21%), eThekwini (27%), and Ekurhuleni (16%). It's interesting to note that three out of the top four are minority multi-party coalition governments led by the DA, while eThekwini is headed by the ANC with the support of several smaller parties.
The whistleblower reports have been broken down into six broad focus areas with corruption allegations involving policing coming out tops. You can study the full sectoral breakdown below.
Source: Corruption Watch 2022 ACT report
Author of the report, CW senior researcher Melusi Ncala, writes: "As you study the graphs enclosed herein and listen to the second ACT report podcast [embedded above], consider not only the state of the country in terms of the grand or political corruption stories we hear of through media reporting, but also the happenings in your communities, work environments, and social circles.
"Think of the decrepit state of the roads and other poorly maintained infrastructure, think about the homeless and landless, think about the shortage of medication and equipment that is out of commission in health facilities, think about under-resourced schools. The list is indeed endless for being the most unequal society means that we are hitting the wrong markers and this is owed to corruption, incompetence and poor leadership."
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