Corruption Watch released its 2018 corruption report, Upholding Democracy, signalling the role of civil society and members of the public alike in exposing corruption and holding leaders to account during 2018.

The many voices reflected in this year’s edition, which marks 25 years of freedom and democracy in South Africa, point to the impact of corruption on the lives of ordinary people, who suffer the most as it strips them of human dignity and access to basic human rights.

At a broader level, the report underlines how corruption erodes the pillars of our democracy, taking hold of key institutions of accountability that should exercise oversight of our leaders, and gives rise to the kinds of abuse of power and impunity that we have witnessed as a result.

Corruption Watch’s executive director David Lewis, in his focus on the need to support the institutions that protect our democracy, comments on how such key institutions – for example, Parliament and the National Prosecuting Authority – were compromised to sustain the corruption on the scale evident in the era of state capture.

“On the other hand,” he adds, “we saw how other institutions of our democracy led the fight back against state capture. Robust and independent civil society, media and judiciary are key indicators of a functioning democracy and in our country, these are widely acknowledged for their leading role in confronting state capture.”

Report by Corruption Watch