Corruption Watch (CW) said on Tuesday it intends to increase pressure for transparency and accountability in the implementation of laws, appointments of leaders, procurement processes, and adherence to good governance system.

The organisation released its eleventh corruption report, ‘Accelerating Justice’, which highlighted that local government corruption was the most reported, with just under two-thirds of whistleblower complaints.

The report showed an equal spread of reports between national and provincial government levels, with these structures accounting for 28% and 26% of graft allegations respectively.

The three biggest culprits are the City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, and City of Ekurhuleni, which collectively account for 58% of incidents reported in relation to local government.

CW executive director Karam Singh noted that the provincial breakdown also presented a familiar picture, with Gauteng accounting for 36% of complaints received, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 18%.

He added that the Free State was the province from which the third highest number of allegations were received, because community engagements were conducted there during the period under review.

He said CW had received over 38 000 complaints of alleged corruption since its launch in 2012. In 2022, the organisation collected 2 168 reports of corruption, almost a quarter of which relate to issues of graft in the mining sector.

He explained that this was owing to the organisation’s mining project which targeted communities during public education and advocacy drives in the Free State, North West and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.

Singh said as in previous years, reporters blew the whistle on bad policing in 2022, saying this represented the second most frequently reported focus area, accounting for about 11% of allegations of corruption.

Completing the top four focus areas are allegations of corruption in businesses and education, accounting for 8% each.

Singh said the types of corruption most reported countrywide across all focus areas are again reminiscent of previous years, with maladministration, including mismanagement of funds, and fruitless and wasteful expenditure accounting for 25%, fraud at 17%, employment irregularities, including nepotism and favouritism, at 13%, bribery and extortion, including sextortion, accounting for 11%, and dereliction of duty, as well as procurement irregularities, including kickbacks and the flouting of processes, both at 9%.

The organisation said it would also continue to champion the need for a much-enhanced whistleblower protection and support system, as well as the incentivisation of whistleblowers.

The organisation said it was clear, from a review of the events of 2022 and the current challenges, that numerous issues required attention and focus if citizens were to rid the country of the corruption that had all but derailed many of the foundations of the country’s democracy.

“There is no time to waste, as the window of opportunity to radically overhaul our anti-corruption efforts, and indeed our current structures and architecture, will not remain open for long. It will require commitment from the whole society and a steely resolve and determination to bring us back from the brink,” concluded Singh.