When corruption becomes the norm - what citizens can do about it

More than a decade after state capture, the country is still feeling its impact as the Madlanga Commission hearings expose the extent to which South Africa’s state institutions have been weakened. Desmond Thompson looks at what happens when corruption becomes the norm.,

More than a decade after state capture, the country is still feeling its impact as the Madlanga Commission hearings expose the extent to which South Africa’s state institutions have been weakened. Desmond Thompson looks at what happens when corruption becomes the norm.

According to the latest Afrobarometer findings, a large majority of South Africans believe that corruption has worsened, while trust in key institutions such as Parliament, local government and the Presidency continues to decline. More than nine in 10 citizens say that the government is performing poorly in fighting corruption – the highest level of dissatisfaction recorded amongst 38 African countries.

Yet, South Africans often speak about corruption as though it happens somewhere else – in state tender processes, corporate boardrooms or on the pages of the Zondo Commission report. 

Everyday life tells a different story. Corruption is also the traffic officer being offered – and accepting - a bribe. It is tax evasion, routine littering and the growing disregard for rules no longer deemed meaningful in a society that increasingly feels as though it is falling apart.

For author William Gumede, founder of the Democracy Works Foundation and a Visiting Associate Professor in the Wits School of Governance (WSG), corruption reshapes society itself.

“My frustration is that people do not see how corruption undermines democracy and the economy. Crucially, it causes instability by breaking down the social fabric,” he says.

In a society as diverse as South Africa, he argues, corruption undermines nation-building by eroding the credibility of institutions and rules.

It starts at the top

For Gumede, once the culture is set at the top, everyone accepts that as the norm.

Recalling courses that he has taught for members of parliament, he says that some of them argued that elected leaders were culturally expected to “look after their own” once in office.

Gumede considers this to be a fundamental misunderstanding: “In a democracy, you get elected to govern in the interests of everyone. If the wrong example is set, civil servants learn that rules can be bent. Businesses begin gaming the system. Citizens stop believing fairness exists and eventually, rule-breaking itself becomes the norm.”

Gumede describes this as a vicious cycle. He explains that service delivery suffers, economic growth slows and that businesses and investors lose confidence. Citizens come to believe that only the politically connected or wealthy can escape accountability.

Eventually, the rules of society collapse," says Gumede. "Laws still excist, but nobody follows them."

We are all part of the problem

Christine Hobden, Associate Professor in Ethics and Public Governance at the WSG, agrees that high-level corruption shapes everyday behaviour. However, her research suggests that the story is more nuanced.

She argues against seeing corruption simply as the product of immoral individuals. Instead, people’s behaviour is shaped by institutional cultures, inequality and social context.

Her perspective is informed by years of working with public servants on public service ethics. She says that many officials operate in environments shaped by fear, silence and weak support systems.

Cautioning against simplistic distinctions between ‘good citizens’ and ‘bad apples’, she argues that most people occupy a morally ambiguous middle ground where compromise, frustration and survival pressures shape behaviour.

“Many people participate in and uphold unjust or corrupt systems while simultaneously being victims of those systems,” she says.

The crisis of trust deficit

For both scholars, the breakdown of public trust is the central crisis, and rebuilding it is the main challenge.

Hobden frames this through the philosophical lens of the social contract – the implicit agreement that relies on citizens being able to believe that institutions will treat them fairly and will apply rules equally. 

When corruption becomes endemic, that belief disappears.

“People begin to take justice into their own hands or simply find their own ways to survive,” she says.

South Africans know this dynamic intimately. Gated communities and private security, generators and boreholes have become everyday responses to institutional failure. In a sense, rule-following increasingly appears naïve rather than virtuous.

Yet, neither Gumede nor Hobden believe that the situation is hopeless.

Rebuilding trust

Gumede argues that rebuilding trust must begin with uncompromising, visible accountability at the top. Politicians, public servants and business persons implicated in corruption must face the law. 

He also believes that change requires a broader shift. The upcoming local government elections, he argues, offer an important test. 

“If significant numbers of South Africans start voting based on honesty and competence, it changes the game,” he says.

Hobden emphasises collective responsibility. Citizens do have personal ethical duties, but these extend beyond obeying traffic laws or refusing small bribes. They also involve participating in democratic life and holding institutions accountable.

“We shouldn’t only think about what we can achieve as individuals but what we can achieve together. The social contract is not only between citizens and the state but also horizontally between citizens themselves,” she says.

Solutions from the bottom up

Both Gumede and Hobden make the point that solutions cannot come only from the top.

Rebuilding an ethical culture requires long-term civic and institutional education – from schools and universities to the training of public servants and political leaders themselves.

However, the question facing South Africa is not merely whether the state has the capacity to combat corruption – it is whether enough ordinary citizens still believe that honesty, mutual accountability and public-mindedness are principles worth defending together.

This article was originally published in Wits University’s research magazine, Curios.ty.