Are anti-corruption measures a pipe dream?

AFRICAN Anti-Corruption Day is observed on July 11 annually to commemorate the adoption of the AU Convention on Preventing and Combatting Corruption in 2003. Corruption remains a major obstacle to economic development and continues to deepen poverty across the continent.

- DEVOSHUM MOODLEY-VEERA

The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) measures and ranks 180 countries for the perception of corruption using a scale of 0 to 100 where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. According to the 2024 CPI, Sub-Saharan countries continue to score the lowest with 90% of countries below 50.

For example, Equatorial Guinea, South Sudan, and Somalia scored dismally with the lowest scores of 17, 13 and 11, respectively. Seychelles, Cabo Verde and Botswana show positive progress in controlling corruption and are regarded as the region's top performers, scoring 71, 64 and 59, respectively. South Africa, on the other hand, has shown a worrying trend, scoring 41—a drop of three points since 2019 and below the average of 50.