Crowning South Africa’s most-corrupt province might sound rather dubious. But it’s like the great Trevor Noah says: “If corruption was a sport, South Africa would be World Champions. While the New Zealand Prime Minister is grilled over free Business Class upgrades, a South African has state-captured the airline.”
Nevertheless, in all seriousness, the Hawks’ SIU has actually revealed South Africa’s most-corrupt province. Responding to questions in parliament, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Velenkosini Hlabisa, gave this concrete answer …
SOUTH AFRICA’S MOST-CORRUPT PROVINCE IS …
Drum roll please … And the winner is, KwaZulu-Natal. And how the SIU came to this conclusion is entirely on merit. The unit has recorded every single local government corruption case since 2020. And KwaZulu-Natal is home to the highest number of investigations – 170. 46 of which have been resolved with sanctions.
Mpumalanga ranks a distant second, with 39 investigations, 24 of which have been resolved through dismissal, suspensions or disciplinary action. “We view allegations of corruption with the utmost gravity. And numerous measures are being introduced to ensure that we work together with provincial governments. This is so any allegations of corruption are promptly attended to,” said Hlabisa.
HOW THE OTHER PROVINCES RANK
The table below shows the number of local government corruption SIU investigations per province since 2020:
| Province | SIU investigations | Resolved cases |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 170 | 46 |
| Mpumalanga | 39 | 24 |
| Northern Cape | 30 | 0 |
| Eastern Cape | 20 | 1 |
| Gauteng | 4 | 3 |
In response to the damning evidence against South Africa’s most-corrupt province, Hlabisa was asked why his department has not worked with the Public Service Commission (PSC). PSC is a government sphere which implements mandatory lifestyle audits within the municipalities.
REGISTRY OF SOUTH AFRICA’S MOST-CORRUPT PROVINCE
However, the minister responded by saying that immediate oversight in local government falls on a municipality’s mayor and council. And it is they who should intervene first when corruption is reported. Currently, the provincial government in KwaZulu-Natal is a coalition between the IFP, ANC and NFP, with the Honourable Thamsanqa Ntuli as Premier.
Furthermore, Hlabisa said his department has been commissioned by Cabinet to compile a register of corrupt officials. This is to address the problem of officials who are fired from one municipality being hired at another. Meanwhile, earlier in October, all four of the best-run municipalities for clean financial audits in South Africa were in the DA-run Western Cape:
- West Coast District municipality – 14 consecutive clean audits.
- Cape Winelands District municipality – 11 consecutive clean audits.
- Breede Valley municipality – 10 consecutive clean audits.
- City of Cape Town ranks as the best metro in South Africa.
What do you think? Does the party in charge in a province have a hand in curtailing local government corruption? Let us know in the comments section below …
