Sadly, we’re used to hearing about instances of corruption in South Africa, with a government that can’t seem to get it together.

Last year, however, with the added stress of COVID-19, which led to job losses, exposed inequality in the economic and healthcare sectors, and everything else that we had to deal with, reports of corruption hit especially hard.

This was particularly true when it was tied to the procurement of PPE and other life-saving measures.

It can be tough to keep track of it all, which is where civil society group Corruption Watch comes in with its annual report for 2020, giving us insight into what exactly went down last year, in which sectors, and to what degree.

The most frequently reported forms of corruption during the year were maladministration (17%), procurement corruption (16%), and fraud (15%).

These acts of corruption included compliance issues, procurement irregularities, soliciting of kickbacks, and fraudulent activities in various state institutions, agencies, and departments, as well as businesses.

Businessman Hamilton Ndlovu, for example, was dragged through the dirt for flaunting his wealth, especially because of his business ties to the government.

Of the complaints recorded by Corruption Watch, 11% alleged corruption in the South African Police Service, 6% point to corruption in schools, 4% refer to corruption in the health sector, and 3% point to corruption in the awarding of driver’s licenses.

The types of corrupt acts highlighted by whistle-blowers in some of the aforementioned focus areas are wide-ranging. In the police, we continue to learn about dereliction of duty, abuse of power, and bribery.

These count for 29%, 28% and 27% of reports, respectively. Meanwhile, in relation to the health sector, Corruption Watch still receives intel on acts of procurement corruption, employment corruption, and fraud, counting for 21%, 15% and 11% respectively

Perhaps somewhat more disturbing, following the implementation of the national state of disaster, Corruption Watch received 418 reports of corruption pertaining to COVID-19.

Image: Corruption Watch Annual Report 2020

Most of these activities took place in critical sectors and institutions such as the Department of Labour’s Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme benefits (37%), the distribution of food parcels by mainly local municipalities (20%), and the South African Police Service (12%).

Officials in these sectors, crucial to our efforts to combat the pandemic, are alleged to have committed crimes relating to maladministration (34%), misappropriation of resources (22%), and procurement corruption (16%).

The provinces with the most reported incidents are Gauteng (48%), KwaZulu-Natal (12%), the Eastern Cape (7%), and Western Cape (7%).

Those are disturbing numbers, and further evidence that if this country doesn’t get a handle on corruption, we’re in for a tough time getting ahead of COVID-19.

You can read the full report here.

[source:corruptionwatch]