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Corruption Watch (CW), in collaboration with Social Change Assistance Trust (SCAT) and Transparency International (TI) and co-funded by the European Union, is committed to enhancing accountability in South Africa through the Strengthening Action Against Corruption (SAAC) Project. This initiative specifically targets community advice offices/civil society organisations (CSOs) in the Eastern Cape province, equipping them with the knowledge and resources needed to identify and address corruption. By supporting these organisations in mobilising their communities, SAAC fosters a culture of accountability and transparency that is fundamental to anti-corruption efforts in South Africa.
The project’s primary goals are to:
- Strengthen anti-corruption initiatives driven by CSOs.
- Enhance engagement and collaboration on anti-corruption efforts between civil society, state institutions supporting constitutional democracy, the public, and the private sector.
- Improve transparency, which in turn strengthens the deterrence and detection of corruption across the public and private sectors.
With planning largely finalised, the project kicked off in July 2024 with the Corruption Busting Bootcamp (CBB), which took place from the 15th to the 19th of that month. It brought together participants from around 30 community-focused organisations that span the length and breadth of the Eastern Cape. These include community advice centres, community development organisations, and advocacy groups, among others. The structure and focus of the CBB was informed by a baseline survey conducted in April 2024 that sought to assess the level of awareness among the envisaged bootcamp participants regarding the topic of corruption.
Where are the SAAC teams working?
The map below shows the municipalities and towns where the SAAC project is active (click the image for a bigger version):
The context for establishing SAAC
Corruption in South Africa permeates institutions and is sustained by corrupt individuals who leverage ineffective anti-corruption mechanisms. This dysfunction allows high-ranking individuals to evade prosecution, making it difficult to trace and recover stolen funds. A legacy of state capture and corruption has diverted public finances toward remedial measures instead of development, leaving the country’s infrastructure in disrepair. Damaged roads, under-resourced hospitals, schools with inadequate facilities, and unreliable water services are symptoms of this, along with an overstretched police force, which jeopardises public safety.
The Zondo Commission, while concluding its investigation, has underscored the depth of state capture, implicating powerful individuals who exploited state resources for personal gain. The commission’s findings echo in the persistent energy crisis, or “load shedding”, which has devastated businesses, increased unemployment, and intensified national disillusionment. The economic toll is immense: with unemployment at 32.1% (as of the third quarter of 2024), only 4.8-million of its 19.7 million youth are employed, and nearly half of adults live below the upper-bound poverty line. The financial losses are staggering; one estimate puts the loss to corruption between 2014-2019 at R1.5-trillion, and Eskom’s debt had surged to R400-billion by 2022.
There is a growing awareness in the civil society and business sectors of corruption’s pervasive nature, yet William Gumede, associate professor in the Witwatersrand University’s School of Governance, notes a cultural acceptance of incompetence and corruption, which erodes accountability. Internationally, South Africa’s reputation is tarnished, affecting foreign investment, stock market flows, and competitiveness.
Local government in the Eastern Cape province has been particularly impacted, with the Hawks investigating corruption in 17 of 39 municipalities since 2022. Public officials in informal syndicates, often with service providers, manipulate procurement systems to misappropriate funds, mirroring patterns seen in national high-profile corruption cases. This ongoing systemic corruption has entrenched the country’s struggle with socio-economic challenges and weak governance.
