Silent Witness: Understanding the Reluctance to Report Corruption in South Africa

Citizen involvement can strengthen the efforts of anti-corruption agencies. Indeed, citizen participation is a key pillar of the South African government’s National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2020-2030 (NACS) vision for an ethical, transparent and accountable society. The NACS is rooted in the recognition of corruption as a deep-seated problem that permeates both the country’s public and private sectors. The study investigates the social norm around reporting witnessed corruption to the authorities (i.e., whistleblowing) in South Africa, looking at the drivers of public willingness to report corruption to the authorities. The paper adopts a quantitative public opinion approach and is guided by the country's NACS, which recognises the need for whistleblowers and wants to encourage and empower members of the public to come forward with information about corruption. Data from the 2023 round of the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) (N=3,112), a nationally representative survey of the adult population living in the country at the provincial level, was used. Public opinion data was supplemented by an expert survey. The findings show that only about half (52%) of the adult population reported that they would report corruption if they witnessed it. Using a multivariate logistic regression approach, the study identified a number of major drivers of public willingness to report witnessed corruption. These included: (i) system accountability perceptions; (ii) fear of retaliation; (iii) report structure effectiveness; and (iv) socio-economic status. The findings indicated a notable reluctance to report corruption by a member of one’s social network, particularly when there is a high degree of dependence on that network. These results were reaffirmed through additional research with anti-corruption experts in the country. The findings point to the need for communication campaigns to encourage South African citizens to blow the whistle on corruption, alongside further efforts to enhance the protection afforded to whistleblowers.