By Hajira Khota
26:08:2021

A new report released by Corruption Watch (CW) highlights the corruption that has plagued municipalities across South Africa for nearly a decade. Radio Islam International interviewed Malusi Ncala, a researcher at CW and author of “South Africa Needs Clean Hands.”

According to the report, municipal administrators are most corrupt in municipalities, which looked into the local government from 2012 to 2020 and based on accounts of more than 5 000 whistle-blowers.

The research explains how corruption presents itself at a local level, including how some municipalities have been seized to serve the commercial interests and how they are affected by pervasive abuse of power and resources.

Ncala says bribery is the most common type of corruption at the municipal level, followed by procurement and hiring irregularities, abusing power, and misusing funds.

The local metro police are recognised in 30% of the reports, followed by housing and human settlements. According to the research, these are the top three corruption hotspots in local government.

“These reports deal about issues of corruption in the office of the municipal manager, as well as metro police, local police, and also the housing department, at least at the local level”.

According to Ncala, “we discover that the majority of the bribery pertains to encounters between members of the public and police officials.” “That’s where cops will try to extort money from you”.

In October, the country’s sixth municipal elections will be held, with positions in the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities, 44 districts, and 200 local municipalities contested. The coronavirus pandemic has had a detrimental impact on many communities; thus, this election will be critical.

Containing the spread of the virus, according to Corruption Watch, is difficult when schools and informal settlements lack adequate access to water and sanitation and townships are congested due to a lack of proper housing. Local governments refuse to offer these services.

As per the report, the outcome is that the local government is most vulnerable to corruption. The continued impoverishment of these departments will only serve to usurp the socio-economic rights of citizens, despite repeated political promises of improved service delivery.

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