London - It is one of the most ancient debilities of humanity. It is the pariah of all the belief systems that define the world. And yet its persistence and perseverance are so pervasive that it would make its arch patron, Hades, ever so proud.
I am, of course, referring to the pandemic of corruption, the scourge of economies, governments, political parties, business and finance, the public sector and procurement, whose impact and the inability of governments and global gatekeeper institutions at least to contain it has left a trail of societal, social and economic devastation, which in reality acts as a mere multiplier effect.
The year 2022 was no exception.
Every year in January, Transparency International (TI), arguably the integrity conscience of the world, publishes its annual exposé of the state of global corruption, the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
The latest CPI 2022 launched last week makes dire reading for the 180 countries and territories ranked, especially for President Cyril Ramaphosa and his 2023 Cabinet Lekgotla cohorts at their meeting on February 2-3.
Despite concerted efforts and many hard-won gains, CPI 2022 shows that the scale of corruption is enormous: the global average remains unchanged at a score of 43 out of 100 for the eleventh year running, and more than two-thirds of countries (68%) score below 50.
The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public-sector corruption according to experts and business people.
It relies on 13 independent data sources and uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
Detractors may question the subjectivity of the methodology – after all, the CPI “quantifies perceptions of corruption in the public sector” – but the independence, integrity, transparency and robustness of the evaluation process with in-built qualifying criteria assessed at least every two years seems to be impeccable, widely respected and open to improvement.
The fact that the CPI score remained stagnant for 124 of the 180 countries ranked in 2022 suggests a disturbing underlying trend of a lack of upward mobility in measures to deal with the phenomenon.
For the 2021/22 period, only 25 countries improved in their CPI scores, with only eight showing significant improvement in the past five years, while the score for 31 countries deteriorated.
The key takeaways are that “countries with strong institutions and well-functioning democracies (the usual suspects) often find themselves at the top of the index”. Denmark heads the ranking, with a score of 90.
Finland and New Zealand follow closely with a score of 87.
On the flip-side, “countries experiencing conflict or where basic personal and political freedoms are highly restricted tend to earn the lowest marks”. This year, Somalia, Syria, South Sudan, Venezuela, Yemen, Libya, North Korea, Haiti, Equatorial Guinea and Burundi are at the bottom of the index.
But what about the “in-betweeners” like South Africa with its perceived progressive Constitution and Bill of Rights? Remember all the shenanigans regarding the state capture report in 2022, which according to the ANC’s integrity commission implicated 97 party members.
This included the arrest and impending extradition of two of the Gupta brothers from Dubai and manifold instances of corruption in national and local government departments, SoEs and so on. So it is not surprising that South Africa’s CPI ranking declined from a score of 44 in 2021 to 43 in 2022.
If ever there is a measure of worsening corruption in the country over the 2021/22 period, this is it. It is a pity that the CPI methodology does not quantify this in terms of the actual and opportunity cost to the real and social economy.
Notwithstanding, the CPI 2022 imposes another metric of shame on South Africa – that of a “country on its Corruption Watch List”.
As if the threat of putting the country on the Financial Action Task Force’s Grey List and Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioning a few South African citizens and residents for failing to take adequate measures to combat money laundering and terrorism financing derived from proceeds of crime, fraud and corrupt practices are not enough.
“While South Africa (43) scores above the regional average of 32,” observes the CPI 2022 Report, “public sector corruption is a serious problem.”
This has been underscored by a series of corruption scandals involving the former and incumbent presidents.
In June 2022, a judicial commission led by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo delivered the final findings of a three-year inquiry into deep-rooted corruption in South Africa.
The roughly 5 000-page report implicated the country’s former president Jacob Zuma, but also found fault with the way the current President Cyril Ramaphosa handled allegations of misconduct.
In October, the president issued a response to the recommendations and findings, in which he announced that the government would put forward and consult the public on a “comprehensive proposal on an effective and integrated anti-corruption institutional framework”.
Yet Ramaphosa, reminds TI, is currently dealing with his own corruption scandal, known as Farmgate. He is accused of covering up a 2020 theft, in which $500 000 or more was stolen from his farm.
The president, observed the report, won the 2018 election on an anti-corruption platform, but has denied any wrongdoing.
Ramaphosa dodged an impeachment vote in Parliament and was even re-elected as the ANC leader in December 2022. He remains under investigation.
AU countries once again emerge with the distinction of being the most corrupt region in the world, managing an average score of 32 out of 100.
To their credit, Seychelles (70), Botswana (60) and Cabo Verde (60) were the highest ranked AU member states. This compared with an average score of 66 for Western and Eastern Europe.
That corruption feeds on conflict, political instability, economic decline, increased pressure on resources, weakened oversight bodies, lack of leadership, a sense of impunity and so on is a given.
It has been shown over the past two years in pockets of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal that these can spill over into violence by fuelling social grievances.
“Dealing with the threats that corruption poses to peace and security,” warns Daniel Eriksson, CEO of Transparency International, “must be a core business of political leaders. Prioritising transparency, oversight, the full and meaningful engagement of civil society, governments should reinforce checks and balances, promote the separation of powers, share information and uphold the right to access it.
They must also limit private influence by regulating lobbying and promoting open access to decision-making, and combat transnational forms of corruption.”
I wonder how many of these recommendations featured in Ramaphosa’s Cabinet lekgotla on February 3, whose deliberations will be the basis for the government’s programme of action for the year and the form and substance of the State of the Nation Address on February 9.
An action of good intent in the interest of transparency would be for the ANC and the government to drop its potential appeal against the ruling of the Johannesburg High Court on cadre deployment!
Parker is an economist and writer based in London
Cape Times
* The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.