Gauteng’s “highly engaged and active population that has been particularly vocal in calling out corruption” is the reason it accounts for 50% of the reports a watchdog received in 2015. Corruption Watch said in its annual report on Wednesday that Gauteng “once again has topped the provincial rankings…followed again by KwaZulu-Natal at 12%‚ while the remaining provinces hover between 5% and 7%‚ with the exception of Northern Cape at 2%”.The body said the Gauteng provincial government had “generally responded constructively to the reports that we have received”.The body’s executive director‚ David Lewis said stressed the “key element of the participation that we encourage is for members of the public to report experiences of corruption to us”.“These reports not only enable us to identify patterns and hotspots of corruption and to devise anti-corruption strategies‚ but‚ most important‚ they enable us to speak with the backing of evidence provided by the public.“This year we will go on a major drive to increase the volume of reports from the victims and opponents of corruption.”In terms of state institutions‚ schools topped the table of “corruption hotspots”‚ making up 16% of reports‚ “followed by traffic and licensing at 12%‚ immigration at 6% and housing and healthcare at 5% and 3% respectively”.“As in previous years‚ abuse of power constituted the bulk of corruption reports at 38%‚ followed by bribery at 20% and procurement corruption at 14% of the total‚” the report said.Of the 2 382 complaints registered last year‚ 71% fell within the watchdog’s “definition of corruption compared to 56% in the previous year”.This‚ Corruption Watch said‚ “can be attributed to the mechanisms that we have set in place to enhance public understanding of corruption”.Lewis also noted that “2015 has also been marked by CW’s participation in several ground-breaking pieces of litigation such as the applications to determine the powers of the public protector”.“Fortunately‚ Corruption Watch is not alone in its efforts to combat corruption‚” he said.“We have particularly benefited from the outstanding work of the public protector which‚ as an institution‚ not only attends to many thousands of reports of petty corruption‚ but has‚ through high-profile investigations such as those involving Nkandla‚ Passanger Rail Agency of South Africa and the South African Broadcasting Corporation‚ demonstrated that no person is above the law.”Corruption Watch said “effectiveness of the public protector’s work…has inspired the recently launched campaign‚ Bua Mzansi”‚ which encourages the “public to take an active part in nominating suitable candidates” to replace Thuli Madonsela when her term of office ends in October...