SA youth on corruption and employment

·11 Jun 2014

A Corruption Watch survey conducted via mobile social media platform, Mxit, and online finds that South Africa’s youth identify corruption as one of the limiting factors that negatively affect their employment opportunities.

Out of over 6,000 respondents between the ages of 14 and 34 who participated in the survey, seven in 10 admitted to having been affected by corruption in some way or another.

A quarter of respondents claimed that they were denied basic services because of corruption in their areas, while 22% said that corruption affected their employment prospects.

“Unemployment is generally perceived to be our most challenging social and economic problem. Our survey reveals that the youth believe that their employment prospects are compromised by corruption.”

“This perception is borne out by the jobs-for-pay scandal in the education system and by the consistent reports of nepotism in appointments that we receive,” said Corruption Watch’s executive director, David Lewis.

Over half of the respondents expressed interest in taking part in an anti-corruption campaign, with the unemployed making up a significant proportion of these.

Most of the young people who took part in the survey were drawn from KwaZulu-Natal (22%), Gauteng (19%) Eastern Cape (14%), and the remaining provinces.

The organisation also conducted an additional online survey mostly targeted at university students and young professionals.

In both surveys, respondents said that the police and the transport licensing department were the most corrupt sectors in South Africa.

Respondents said that naming and shaming the corrupt and tougher penalties for offenders are the most effective ways to fight corruption.