'A national mindset shift is needed to defeat corruption,' warns governance expert

South Africa’s corruption crisis has become deeply entrenched, touching both everyday citizens and those in positions of power.

That's according to Professor William Gumede from Wits University’s School of Governance, who says corruption has become so common that many people no longer find it shocking.

"Corruption has become normalised across all parts of society, and that's our problem. When society has collapsed to such a moral degeneration, it is very difficult to undo it."

From bribes to secure basic services to grand-scale scandals involving public funds, Gumede adds that corruption now threatens the country’s ability to create jobs, reduce poverty, and deliver essential services.

He notes that reducing corruption could significantly boost economic growth, citing global examples where anti-corruption drives fuelled national development.

"In South Africa, if we just reduce corruption by 10%, we'll get our 3% growth rate that we want."

Gumede argues that South Africa needs a broad, society-wide movement against corruption, one that unites ordinary citizens, political leaders, religious figures, and community organisations in refusing to support or vote for anyone implicated in wrongdoing.

"We need to get a society-wide effort, an anti-corruption movement – not political – where the society decides no matter what, they'll never ever vote for anyone that is corrupt, no matter their colour, no matter their ethnic group, no matter their liberation struggle credentials."

However, he acknowledges public frustration with the lack of accountability among those in power, pointing to the billions spent on commissions of inquiries with little tangible outcome.

While some may feel powerless to act, Gumede insists that change must begin from the ground up, with citizens rejecting corrupt practices in daily life and demanding higher ethical standards from leadership.

"Unfortunately, in our politics right now, people don't take corruption seriously; they will vote for an individual even if the individual is corrupt, and that is the key part of it. Ideologies and colour and all of these other things, people will rather go for those things and do not think that corruption is actually the root cause of everything. You can vote for a person that you think is revolutionary; the person is corrupt – you will never in your lifetime get anything good out of that person."

To listen to Professor William Gumede in conversation with 702's Bongani Bingwa, click on the audio below: