The anti-corruption institutions in South Africa : a panacea to governance ills?

• DOI: 10.10520/EJC-13bd8bdda7
• Author: Paulus Hlongwane
• Record Number: sapr1_v33_n2_a7
• Pages: 1-24
• Date: 01 December 2018
• Published date: 01 December 2018

Southern African Public Law

https://doi.org/10.25159/2522-6800/2949

https://upjournals.co.za/index.php/SAPL

ISSN 2522-6800 (Online)

Volume 33 | Number 2 | 2018 | #2949 | 24 pages

© Unisa Press 2018

Article

The Anti-corruption Institutions in South Africa: A

Panacea to Governance Ills?

Paulus Hlongwane

Lecturer, Department of Public Administration and Management

University of South Africa

hlongp@unisa.ac.za

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to assess the role played by the South African anti-

corruption institutions in addressing corruption in government departments. The

negative impact of corruption on the effectiveness and efficiency of the service

delivery by government departments necessitates an examination of the role of

the anti-corruption institutions. For the purposes of this article, a review of

scholarly published articles, newspaper articles, case law and annual reports of

the anti-corruption institutions in South Africa was undertaken. With regard to

the anti-corruption institutions, it is has not yet been established whether they

are operating free of political interference in South Africa. This article contends

that the anti-corruption institutions should be sufficiently resourced and funded

by the government to enable them to deal effectively with the corrupt activities

that pervade government departments. Moreover, the anti-corruption

institutions should be able to perform their functions without any political

interference that could possibly influence their proper functioning negatively.

Keywords: anti-corruption institutions, corruption, criminal activities, proactive

strategy, reactive strategy

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to assess the role played by the South African anti-

corruption institutions in addressing corruption in government departments. The

negative impact of corruption on the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery by

government departments necessitates an examination of the role of the anti-corruption

institutions. For the purposes of this article, a review of scholarly published articles,

2

newspaper articles, case law and annual reports of the anti-corruption institutions in

South Africa was undertaken. With regard to the anti-corruption institutions, it has not

yet been established whether they are operating free of political interference in South

Africa.

The anti-corruption institutions in South Africa are faced with the mammoth task of

rooting out the corruption that is occurring in various forms at different levels (eg

national, provincial and local) of government departments. According to Corruption

Watch,

1

the national departments in South Africa account for 24 per cent of corruption;

provincial departments are responsible for 26 per cent, whereas the local government

and state-owned entities account for 16 per cent and 34 per cent of corruption

respectively. Surprisingly, Gauteng province alone is responsible for 50 per cent of

corruption reported in 2015.

2

This is attributed to the fact that Gauteng is highly

populated with approximately 13 million people and also considering the fact that all

the national departments are based in Pretoria.

3

Furthermore, the national statistics on

corruption have been on the rise since 2014, when 44 per cent was recorded, up from

38 per cent in 2013.

4

With regard to the rate of corruption in the South African public

sector generally, Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2013

indicates that South Africa ranked 72 in the world with a score of 42 (on a scale of 0

[highly corrupt] to 100 [very clean]) out of 177 countries.

5

In 2014, South Africa

improved marginally in the fight against corruption by accumulating extra two points,

which increased its score to 44, though it was ranked 67 out of 175 countries.

6

Moreover, South Africa moved five places up and was ranked number 61 out of 168

countries around the globe, although its score remained constant at 44 points.

7

These

figures attest to the fact that corruption is still a major challenge in the South African

public sector. In South Africa, corruption relating to the abuse of power accounts for 38

per cent, bribery 20 per cent, procurement 14 per cent and employment (nepotism) 8 per

cent, while other forms of corruption account for only 20 per cent.

8

Corruption is regarded as any conduct or behaviour pertaining to people holding the

responsibilities of public office which transgresses their duties as public office-bearers,

and which is intended to acquire undeserved gratification of any form for themselves or

others.

9

Corruption is further concerned with the use of public office for private gain,

1

Corruption Watch, ‘Annual Report 2015’ (2015) 18.

2

Corruption Watch (n 1) 17.

3

Corruption Watch (n 1) 17.

4

Corruption Watch (n 1) 17.

5

Corruption Watch (n 1) 17.

6

Transparency International (n 5).

7

Transparency International (n 5).

8

See Corruption Watch (n 1) 18.

9

Vinothan Naidoo and Paula Jackson, ‘Reviewing South Africa’s Efforts to Combat Corruption in Its

Bureaucracy: 1994–2009’ (HSRC 2009) 3.