CORRUPTION IS getting worse in southern Africa, with a majority of people paying bribes for public services, according to anti-corruption agency Transparency International.
Fifty-six per cent of people who came in contact with public service providers were forced to pay a bribe in the past year, according to a study conducted by the organisation, with 62 per cent of people stating they believed corruption had become worse in the past three years. Only 19 per cent said they believed it had decreased.
The study, Daily Lives and Corruption, Public Opinion in Southern Africa, surveyed more than 6,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe between 2010 and 2011.
Looking at nine different public service providers, it found people perceived the police as being the most corrupt institution.
“This correlates with the finding that bribes were more often paid to the police than any other institution – 49 per cent of people who had been in contact with the police reported having paid a bribe,” says the report. “People in Zimbabwe had the highest likelihood of paying a bribe for services they were entitled to with more than a quarter of respondents citing this reason.”
Bribes ranged between $30 (€23) to $1,000 (€750).
Incidents of corruption are on the increase in Zimbabwe, where years of hyperinflation have exposed all sectors of the economy and public service to graft. Top officials have been accused of hand-picking farms for themselves and putting them in the name of family members, in order to avoid an official one-farm policy.
After the police force, political parties were perceived to be the most corrupt organisations in all remaining countries except for Mozambique, where the education system was regarded as the second most corrupt institution.