Manifestations of corruption in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality

Abstract

This study was conducted as a result of the various media reports, various law enforcement investigation reports, Public Service Commission, reports of the Auditor General South Africa and the Public Protector South Africa on corruption and the various forms in which corruption manifests itself in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and the effectiveness of the various law enforcement agencies and the government in tackling the scourge of corruption in public and private institutions. While South Africa has various anti-corruption strategies, they all seem to be ineffective and have thus far not achieved their desired results. A qualitative research approach was used to investigate this problem. A thorough literature study and documentary analysis was used to gather all the relevant data related to this topic. It has been found that the most common manifestations of corruption that take place in the South African public service are fraud, bribery, extortion, nepotism, conflict of interest, cronyism, favouritism, theft, graft, embezzlement and abuse of power. Other forms of corruption that raise concern are, for example, influence-peddling, insider trading/abuse of privileged information, bid-rigging and kickbacks. South Africa has, on the other hand, seven anti-corruption institutions and seventeen pieces of legislation which are intended to combat corruption in the public and private sector. These pieces of legislation give South African law enforcement and investigators in the public and private sectors a clear mandate with a view to investigating the high levels of corruption. It is the submission of the Public Service Commission (2011:vi) that corruption has become a global concern that seriously hampers development in any country and diverts its resources from where they are needed the most. The most unfortunate truth and reality about corruption is that the poor suffer the most.