South Africa a “bribery hot spot” in Africa
Incidents of bribery have increased in Africa, with South Africa, Nigeria and six other countries highlighted as “corruption hot spots”.
According to a 2015 anti-bribery and corruption survey conducted by law firm ENSafrica, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, and Uganda are also viewed as bribery centers.
In January, the Institute of Internal Auditors reported that South Africa has lost R700 billion to corruption over the last 20 years.
President Jacob Zuma has in recent times stressed that the country has a strong anti-corruption architecture, despite evidence to the contrary.
ENSafrica’s survey found that a quarter (24%) of organisations have experienced an incident of bribery and/or corruption in the past 24 months – an increase of 4% since 2013 – with 5% experiencing five or more incidents within the last 24 months.
Just over 90% of organisations surveyed have a policy prohibiting bribes, 52% have an established anti-bribery compliance programme, and 43% have conducted a detailed anti-bribery risk assessment of their bribery risks, the research note said.
A total of 88 organisations across Africa, including Mauritius, participated in the survey.
Other key findings included:
- 68% of those surveyed believe that third-party business partners pose the greatest source of bribery risk to their organisations
- 17% of organisations feel they are highly exposed to bribery in Africa (a drop of 33% compared to 2013), with 71% believing they are moderately exposed to bribery and corruption in Africa
- only 36% of organisations surveyed are confident that they have proportionate procedures to mitigate bribery risks; or believe they are well prepared to respond to the threat of an anti-bribery regulatory investigation
- 62% of organisations now conduct due diligence screening on third parties, an increase of 22% from 2013
- only 40% of organisations have a dedicated anti-bribery training programme for their employees and 15% provide anti-bribery training to their business partner.
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