JUSTICE MALALA | Latest index confirms to the world that corruption in SA is out of control

Our politicians are sitting on their hands. They are part of the problem

04 February 2024 - 20:54

There is a price to be paid every time our leaders sit on their hands and fail to act decisively, vocally and openly against corruption. We saw it clearly last week when Transparency International released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index report. SA fell into the category of “flawed democracies” as it slid down the rankings and recorded its lowest ever score of 41. The report gives nations a score from 0 to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is squeaky clean. Flawed as the report is (it is a measure of perceptions, after all), that score of 41 should set off red lights everywhere: our troubles are deepening. Non-democratic regimes have an average score of 32 on the index, while full democracies record an average of 73. Flawed democracies, where we now sit, average 48. We are headed to the non-democratic regimes belt unless we do something — fast...

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