The growing climate of
corruption in South Africa
was brought into sharp relief
in a recent survey where
80% of respondents said
they believed that levels had
increased in the country.
The People and
Corruption: Africa Survey
ranked business as having
the second highest levels of
corruption in the region, just
below the police.
South Africa is ranked
alongside Benin, Liberia,
Nigeria and Zimbabwe
where around four in five
respondents said their
government was not
doing enough to combat
corruption.
Transparency
International partnered with
Afrobarometer who spoke to
43 143 respondents across
28 countries in sub-Saharan
Africa between March 2014
and September 2015.
The survey asked
respondents how much
corruption there was in
10 power groups in their
countries – the political
and government elite (the
president’s office, members
of parliament, government
officials), public officials
who work at the service level
(tax officials, the police,
judges and magistrates, local
government councillors),
and those who are not part
of the public sector (business
executives, religious leaders
and traditional leaders).
Logistics companies
operating in Africa are
exposed to the most corrupt
sectors on a daily basis – the
police, business leaders,
customs and tax officials.
The strongly negative
assessment of business
executives is new compared
to previous surveys,
according to the authors.
The majority (58%) of
Africans in the surveyed
countries say corruption has
increased over the past 12
months.
People living in South
Africa, Ghana and Nigeria
were the most likely to say
that they believed corruption
had risen in the 12 months
before the survey was
conducted.
They are in the group
of 18 out of 28 countries
where a large majority of
people said their government
was performing poorly at
fighting corruption.
The situation is worst in
Liberia where nearly seven
in ten paid a bribe.
Poor people are twice
as likely as rich people to
have paid a bribe, simply to
access basic services such as
hospital care.
“Shockingly, we estimate
that nearly 75 million people
have paid a bribe in the
past year – some of these to
escape punishment by the
police or courts, but many
are forced to pay to get
access to the basic services
that they desperately need,”
say the authors in the
executive summary.
“Corruption creates
and increases poverty and
exclusion. While corrupt
individuals with political
power enjoy a lavish life,
millions of Africans are
deprived of their basic needs
like food, health, education,
housing, access to clean
water and sanitation,” said
Transparency International
chair José Ugaz.
Botswana, Mauritius
and Cape Verde have the
lowest bribery rates in the
region, being on a par with
low bribery rate countries in
Europe and the USA.
INSERT
Logistics companies
operating in Africa
are exposed to the
most corrupt sectors
on a daily basis —
the police, business
leaders, customs and
tax officials.
