Monograph 65: Corruption in South Africa: Results of an Expert Panel Survey, Lala Camerer
During the latter part of 2000 (August-October),
more than 150 ‘experts’ were interviewed as part of a survey undertaken
by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) on the causes of and
controls for the effective fight against corruption in South Africa. The
experts are individuals who attended one or more of the major
anti-corruption conferences in South Africa over the past few years and
who, it can be assumed, have some particular knowledge of corruption
issues.
The purpose of the survey was primarily to collect new data on
corruption issues in South Africa. It was hoped that the survey might
stimulate the policy impasse that had resulted after the April 1999
anti-corruption summit and that the results would assist policy makers
in prioritising interventions based on sound information, rather than to
draw up ‘wish lists’ for fighting corruption. The key findings of the
survey are outlined below.
Conceptual and practical understandings of corruption
- Issues of abuse for personal benefit —
whether of power, position, public funds, resources, authority and
office — stand out significantly as underlying the experts’
understanding of corruption.
- Illicit self-enrichment and issues relating to ethics also commonly emerge in experts’ understandings of corruption.
- Bribery and payment for services,
including kickbacks in contractual and tender procedures, are the most
readily given examples of corrupt practises.
- Nepotism and fraud are readily cited examples of corruption.
Extent, location and seriousness of corruption
- One-third (33%) of the experts responded
positively when asked whether they or anyone known to them had been
asked or expected to pay a bribe in the past year.
- 37% of respondents believed that
the current government was less corrupt than under apartheid, while 34%
believed it to be about the same.
- Just over half of the experts (51%)
felt that corruption levels would decrease in the next few years, while
one-third (31%) felt that it was likely to increase.
- While there may be much corruption,
the majority of experts (64%) agreed that South Africa was confronted
by other more serious problems, such as crime and security, followed
closely by job creation.
Conditions for and causes of corruption
- Experts ranked weak checks and balances as the primary cause of corruption in government.
- Greed was cited as the main cause
for corruption in society as a whole, suggesting a differentiated
response to control measures against corruption in society and in
government.
- 40% of experts agreed that the
payment of bribes to government officials or doing favours for them made
it easier to get things done.
Evaluating policy responses to fight corruption
- 83% of experts believed that the government was committed to the fight against corruption.
- 60% of experts believed that the government handled the matter of corruption very or fairly well, while 40% were less positive.
- Lack of resources was seen as the main problem with the government’s fight against corruption.
- 73% of experts believed that the government did not have sufficient resources to fight corruption.
Evaluating anti-corruption agencies
- Asked to rank the effectiveness of
anti-corruption agencies, the majority of experts viewed the Special
Investigating Unit as the most effective (85%).
- This was followed by the office of
the Auditor-General (74%), the office of the Public Protector (62%) the
Special Investigating Directorate on Corruption of the National
Directorate of Public Prosecutions (47%) and the Public Service
Commission (34%).
Evaluating anti-corruption strategies
On a scale of one to four, with four being the most effective anti-corruption strategy, experts ranked the following as very effective:
- Greater transparency in government tender processes
- Schools placing more emphasis on moral values
- Legal protection for whistle blowers
- Prosecution of high-profile individuals
- Barring corrupt officials from holding public office
- Greater financial controls/internal audits of government spending
- A national anti-corruption hotline
- Vigorous news media investigation of corruption
Least effective strategies with a mean score of 3.0 or lower include:
Cross-sectoral anti-corruption conferencesIncreased salaries for government employeesCodes of conduct to promote professional ethicsA single independent agency to fight corruption
