South Africa’s corruption fight stalls
South Africa’s fight against corruption remains a significant challenge, as the country maintains its lowest-ever score on the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
Published by Transparency International (TI) on 11 February 2025, the index shows a troubling stagnation in anti-corruption efforts, with the country’s score holding steady at a level below the global average.
The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories based on perceived levels of public sector corruption, as reported by experts and businesspeople.
It relies on 13 independent data sources and uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero indicates high corruption, and 100 indicates very clean governance.
In the 2023 CPI, South Africa’s score dropped to 41, its lowest recorded level and a three-point decline since 2019.
This score of 41 remains for 2024, below the global average of 43.
Corruption Watch (CW), TI’s local chapter, said that “this disconcerting score suggests that there have been few gains or concrete efforts to tackle the large-scale problem of corruption”.
It is important to note that the CPI measures perceptions of corruption, not corruption reported or experienced by members of the public. For this reason, perceptions may differ from the reality on the ground.
Broadly, the CPI measures instances of corruption in the public sector involving:
- Bribery
- Diversion of public funds
- Officials using their public office for private gain without facing consequences
- The ability of governments to contain corruption in the public sector
- Excessive red tape in the public sector which may increase opportunities for corruption
- Nepotistic appointments in the civil service
- Laws ensuring that public officials must disclose their finances and potential conflicts of interest
- Legal protection for people who report cases of bribery and corruption
- State capture by narrow vested interests
- Access to information on public affairs/government activities
Sub-Saharan Africa is still the lowest performing region, with an average score of 33 out of 100, and with 90% of countries scoring below 50.
“And yet there were African countries that invested in anti-corruption and made remarkable progress,” said TI.
Deep-rooted corruption is a significant impediment to South Africa’s growth and development.
Corruption diminishes domestic and foreign investment, promotes excessive government spending, and distorts the allocation of government funds.
“Corruption erodes the trust that the public has in the public sector to act in their best interests,” wrote Legal and Development Practitioner Karabo Mokgonyana.
“It is a waste of taxpayers’ funds, which could have been used for service delivery, and leads to financial loss, damage to employee morale and institutions’ reputations and leads to increased scrutiny, oversight and regulation.”
The South African government has often announced efforts to tackle corruption through various measures.
One of these notable initiatives includes the R1 billion Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, which revealed that around R57 billion of taxpayer funds was looted.
“However, the impact of corruption goes beyond the institutional weaknesses, it heavily hinges on corrupt individuals,” said Mokgonyana.
“South Africa does not have effective systems in place to deal with individuals who are corrupt.”
“Hence, they continue to be in positions of power, are not prosecuted for their corrupt actions, and it becomes difficult to track and recover funds that have been stolen.”
Strides
While South Africa’s perception remains at its lowest level since the index’s establishment, CW notes “some encouraging developments in attempts to address corruption”.
This includes the establishment last year of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption as a permanent entity within the National Prosecuting Authority.
Additionally, the Asset Forfeiture Unit and the Special Investigating Unit have reported that over R10 billion has been recovered in state capture-related cases.
South Africa is scheduled to host the G20 Leaders’ Summit in 2025, presenting a crucial opportunity to advocate for increased financial commitments, particularly regarding climate resilience.
However, TI said that South Africa still needs to reinforce its oversight mechanisms to prevent domestic corruption from interfering, as has occurred in past summits.
Global trends
Globally, of the 180 countries measured:
- Denmark is ranked highest for the seventh year in a row, with a score of 90
- Finland and Singapore are in second and third place, with scores of 88 and 84, respectively
- South Sudan (8), Somalia (9), and Venezuela (10) are at the bottom of the index
From 2012 to 2024, 32 countries improved, 47 declined, and 101 stayed the same.
Reviewing the changes in the CPI between 2015 and 2024, Bahrain shows the most improvement, with an increase of 17 points since 2018.
Conversely, Eswatini experienced the most significant decline, dropping 16 points since 2014.
Despite high rankings, many countries have made little progress in combating public sector corruption, with over two-thirds scoring below 50.
The group highlights that conditions are being made easier for corruption to thrive because of impunity for powerful figures.
“The global trend of weakening justice systems is reducing accountability for public officials, which allows corruption to thrive,” said Transparency International.
“Corruption is an evolving global threat that does far more than undermine development – it is a key cause of declining democracy, instability and human rights violations,” said chair of TI François Valérian.
“The international community and every nation must make tackling corruption a top and long-term priority.
“This is crucial to pushing back against authoritarianism and securing a peaceful, free and sustainable world,” added Valérian.
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