Emerging theory for effective anti-corruption reform in South Africa

This policy brief argues that South Africa's anti-corruption efforts have yielded minimal results because they rely on a Western 'good governance' model that ignores the systemic nature of corruption in developing countries. The author advocates for a decolonial, empirical approach that addresses 'clientelism' and 'plunder' by focusing on social norms, collective action, and the power struggles between rule-following and non-rule-following elites.

• Conventional anti-corruption reforms based on the Western 'good governance' paradigm often fail or backfire in developing countries. This approach prioritizes top-down measures such as better laws, transparency, and accountability through punishment, but it often ignores local context and assumes that strong rule-of-law institutions already exist to enforce consequences.
• Systemic corruption in South Africa is characterized by 'clientelism' and 'plunder'. Clientelism involves the use of informal patron-client networks to distribute resources to powerful factions to maintain political stability when the formal fiscus is insufficient. Plunder involves a predatory elite expropriating resources, often driven by structural poverty and inequality.
• Corruption in South Africa is often driven by social norms and informal governance systems rather than simple individual greed. During the tenure of former President Jacob Zuma, informal systems dominated institutions, where social norms of obedience to authority were reinforced through incentives like secure jobs and promotions, or disincentives such as bullying.
• The 'political settlements' theory suggests that anti-corruption progress depends on a struggle between rule-following elites and non-rule-following elites. In South Africa, this was evidenced by the disbanding of the Directorate of Special Operations (the 'Scorpions'), which led to a 30% decrease in investigations and prosecutions after non-rule-following elites successfully pushed for its dissolution.
• Collective action theory offers a more effective alternative to targeting 'individual bad apples' by shifting the value system of an entire group. An example of this is the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) in Nigeria, which used root cause analysis and integrity reform to reduce corruption in Lagos harbour by 96.2% between 2019 and 2022.
• Behavioral science 'nudges' can be effective in reducing corruption in specific contexts. A pilot project in a village in KwaZulu-Natal used posters stating 'Bribery is going down in this town,' which empirical research showed resulted in fewer bribes being paid during the study period.
• There is a significant lack of primary empirical research on corruption within South Africa, meaning current policies are often not based on sound research. The author recommends that policy development be preceded by multidisciplinary empirical studies into the specific types and drivers of corruption at national, local, and sector-specific levels.

APA

Ashton, C. (2024). Emerging theory for effective anti-corruption reform in South Africa. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1724659612996-PB-190-1.pdf

Chicago

Ashton, Colette. Emerging theory for effective anti-corruption reform in South Africa. Institute for Security Studies, 2024. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1724659612996-PB-190-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ashton |first1=Colette |title=Emerging theory for effective anti-corruption reform in South Africa |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=2024 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1724659612996-PB-190-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ashton2024emerging, author = {Ashton, Colette}, title = {{Emerging theory for effective anti-corruption reform in South Africa}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2024}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1724659612996-PB-190-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }