Durban - DESPITE nine months of 2020 under lockdown, 4 780 incidents of corruption were recorded by Corruption Watch.
This was the non-profit organisation’s second-highest number of reports on corruption since it was formed in January 2012.
The 9th annual report, which was released last Thursday, also recorded its highest number of corrupt activities that implicated the police and the health-care sectors.
Corruption Watch relies on the public to report corruption to them. The report is used in the fight against corruption and to hold leaders accountable for their actions.
According to its website, the organisation investigates selected reports of alleged acts of corruption, in particular those cases that have the most serious impact on society. It hands over its findings to the relevant authorities to take further action. Corruption Watch then monitors the progress of each case.
The organisation said the information contained in the report was not surprising as the public could no longer remain silent when corruption took place while South Africa faced the Covid-19 pandemic.
It said corruption emerged regarding procurement and distribution of essential goods and services. This included relief packages.
“Along with these deplorable acts during a time of emergency, equally shocking were the cases of police and army brutality and abuse of power,” said the report.
Corruption Watch received, on average, 11 complaints a day, most of which were from Gauteng, followed by KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
David Lewis, the executive director, said some politicians, public servants and business people had abused public funds.
He said the report was a clear indication that citizens had had enough.
“It established yet again that corruption is front of mind for so many South Africans who view it as an underlying cause of so many of their problems, as the reason why their public services are so degraded and why they simply cannot trust the elites who run both the public and private sectors.”
The most frequently reported forms of corruption during the year were maladministration at 17% and procurement corruption and fraud at 16% and 15%, respectively. According to the report, 11% of corruption in the country took place within the SAPS.
“The continued prominence of SAPS-related corruption reports can be attributed not only to the policing environment in the context of the Covid-19 National State of Disaster and lockdown regulations but also to the Corruption Watch project that has, for several years, highlighted police abuse and mismanagement,” said the report.
During 2020, Corruption Watch said it received almost double the number of police-related reports compared with 2019, which stood at more than 440 against the previous 250.
Mary de Haas, a crime analyst at KZN Violence Monitor, likened the reports on corruption to cases of rape.
“One does not know if it is getting worse now, or whether it is just getting reported more,” said De Haas.
She said corruption existed before democracy and was so entrenched that it would take a long time to eradicate.
De Haas said that to manage corruption within policing, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate needed to report to an independent board and not the minister responsible for policing. She said community police forums also needed to play an active role in reporting corruption.
The report said 4% of corruption was recorded in the health sector. This comprised 149 cases.
“Under Covid-19, while visits to health-care facilities may have been reduced, the cases of corruption featured in the Crime Watch reports centred on procurement corruption, employment corruption and fraud, counting for 21%, 15% and 11% respectively.”
Popo Maja, the spokesperson for the national Department of Health, said while they were yet to read the report, the department condemned corruption. He said the department would not hesitate to report corrupt activities to law enforcement agencies and take the necessary steps against anyone involved.
Corruption in schools accounted for 6% and corruption in the awarding of driver’s licences was 3%.
Nirmala Gopal, a criminologist, said with regard to news reports last year on corruption being exposed, Corruption Watch’s report was not surprising. “What is alarming though is the fact that politicians don’t seem to care that the information will surface publicly and that there are cohorts of citizens who will react to corrupt practices.”
She said citizens must hold politicians accountable for corrupt activities and there must be greater public participation in how corrupt politicians should be dealt with.
Gopal said the government was always aware of the levels of corruption in many public offices.
“However, if they (the government) want to regain the confidence of eligible voters then, from a political perspective, it would be in their best interest to transform.”
The Department of Education and SAPS did not comment at the time of publication.
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