South Africans Need to Wake Up to the Many Crippling Costs of Corruption

Many ordinary South Africans appear to believe that corruption carries no direct cost. That, the article argues, is a serious mistake: corruption lies behind failures in public education and healthcare, power blackouts, water outages, high crime, the rising cost of living and record unemployment.

The argument extends beyond public services. Many voters, it says, continue to elect politicians they know to be corrupt because those politicians promote the “right” policies, blame the “right” enemies, or share their supporters’ colour, ethnic group, ideology or historical political past.

The article says corruption also damages policies that might otherwise attract public support. When ruling leaders, parties and elites are corrupt, policies described as progressive, transformative or aimed at social justice lose credibility among citizens, communities, civil society, businesses and markets. As a result, they face fierce opposition and become difficult to implement.

It specifically argues that policies such as Black Economic Empowerment, land restitution and land expropriation for public purposes have in many cases been captured by ANC-connected politicians, trade unionists, executives at state-owned entities, tenderpreneurs and BEE businesses. That capture, it says, undermines their credibility, constitutionality and public acceptance.

The article presents corruption as a threat to economic growth, democracy and social stability because it fractures the relationships, shared values, traditions and institutions that hold society together. Without trusted rules, laws and social norms, it says, sustainable development, poverty reduction and employment are impossible, regardless of a government’s intentions. It concludes that corruption also damages South Africa’s nation-building project, as different groups interpret state failure through the lens of the country’s divided past.