Cape Town, Johannesburg and Tshwane collectively accounted for 71% of complaints related to corruption allegations out of five municipalities with the highest number of corruption reports for 2023, Corruption Watch (CW) said.
This is according to the organisation’s 12th annual corruption report, Changing the Landscape.
More than 12 years since its inception, CW said it had received more than 46 900 complaints of alleged corruption from whistleblowers.
CW noted this was an average of 11 reports per day from every part of South Africa, “from ordinary people brave enough to expose corruption and the abuse of power”.
In 2023 the organisation said it had received 2 110 reports, largely focused on wrongdoing and malfeasance in the mining sector at 38%.
The second highest number of reports received was in the policing sector at 23%, followed by business at 16%, basic education at 12%, and state-owned entities at 11%.
The predominant types of corruption complaints in 2023 were maladministration, counting for 34% of reports, followed by fraud 21%, employment irregularities 16%, bribery or extortion 15%, and procurement irregularities 13%.
“The prevalence of corruption at the local government level emerges again as a key trend.
Out of the five municipalities with the highest number of corruption reports, three metropolitan municipalities, City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, and City of Cape Town, collectively account for 71% of corruption incidents, followed by Dannhauser and Matjhabeng at 15% and 14% respectively.
“Turning to the distribution of corruption reports across provinces, Gauteng once again comes out on top with 37% of complaints, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 19%, Free State with 10%, and the Western Cape with 9%. These provinces, which collectively represent 75% of reports, are all considered to be hot spots for monitoring corruption,” the report stated.
In the Western Cape, most reports related to fraud at 24%, maladministration 15%, dereliction of duty 12%, abuse of power 9% and employment irregularities at 9%.
University of the Free State research fellow and local governance expert Dr Harlan Cloete said he was not surprised that Johannesburg, Tshwane and Cape Town accounted for many reports as these were larger cities and congested areas.
He said a high number of reports showed that people were serious about their rights and responsibilities.
“People are reporting. We are an open and transparent society that are very vigilant. There is a lot of corruption that happens, that goes unreported. Corruption is not just government, it’s a societal problem we face,” said Cloete.
City of Cape Town spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo said: “The City has no record of having received any allegations from Corruption Watch, and therefore their report cannot be taken as a reflection of actual corruption as it is not clear whether any of these complaints were reported for investigation.
“The City received a clean audit for the financial year 2022/23. The City has a zero-tolerance approach to corruption, as evidenced by its proactive stance to investigate any matters brought before it.”
Cape Times