Corruption's getting worse, Mr President – survey

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s huffing and puffing about his government getting to grips with corruption is just hot air in the view of those involved in a corruption survey, notes Legalabrief. The survey by Afrobarometer found that not only do South Africans believe corruption is getting worse, but they see a large portion of elected officials and civil servants as involved in corrupt activities. Almost 64% of those surveyed say that corruption increased in the past year, while 49% say it has ‘increased a lot’, according to a News24 report. The Afrobarometer team, led by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation and Plus 94 Research, interviewed 1 600 adults in May and June. Those surveyed believed the government was largely handling the anti-corruption fight badly. They also believed that channels to report corruption were increasingly seen as unsafe. ‘State institutions are widely seen as corrupt. Half or more of citizens say "most" or "all" officials are involved in corruption in the police (56%), the President's Office (53%), local government councils (51%), and Parliament (50%). NGOs, traditional leaders and religious leaders are less commonly seen as corrupt.’ Afrobarometer found that seven in 10 South Africans say the government is performing ‘fairly badly’ or ‘very badly’ in the fight against corruption. Among citizens who interacted with key public services during the past year, substantial proportions say they had to pay a bribe to avoid a problem with the police (24%) or to obtain a government document (21%), police assistance (15%), public school services (10%), or medical care (8%). ‘Three out of four South Africans (76%) say people risk retaliation or other negative consequences if they report incidents of corruption, a 13-percentage-point increase compared to 2018.’ Seven out of 10 citizens believe that officials, who break the law, often or always go unpunished.

Full Fin24 report