South Africa’s corruption story is one of the more genuinely complicated ones to follow right now. Depending on who you ask, the country is either on a slow but real path to recovery, or stuck in a cycle where impressive-sounding reforms never quite change the lived reality. Having looked at the latest data, I think both sides have a point.
The numbers haven’t moved
On the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International, South Africa scored 41 out of 100, ranking 81st out of 182 countries. The score is just below the global average of 42, which is already a fairly grim baseline. What makes it more sobering is that this score has been identical for three consecutive years now. After everything that came out of the Zondo Commission and all the resulting policy commitments, public perception of corruption hasn’t shifted at all.
Corruption Watch, the local Transparency International chapter, has described this stagnation as a serious concern. And it is. Perception indices are imperfect tools, but flat scores over multiple years usually mean that whatever is happening in policy circles hasn’t reached ordinary people yet.
The reform effort is more substantial than you might think
That said, there has been genuine work done. As of July 2025 the Presidency reported that 48% of the 60 presidential commitments tied to the Zondo Commission’s recommendations are either complete or substantially complete, with another 23% on track. That leaves 29% delayed or needing attention, but the overall direction is forward.
Two legislative changes stand out. The NPA Amendment Act of 2024 made the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption a permanent institution inside the National Prosecuting Authority, which matters because temporary bodies tend to disappear when political priorities shift. And the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Act of 2025 broke up the old State Security Agency into separate domestic and foreign intelligence entities with stronger oversight, addressing one of the Zondo Commission’s core findings about how intelligence was politically weaponised during the state capture era.
South Africa was also removed from the FATF greylist in 2025, a meaningful signal that the country has addressed enough of its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing deficiencies to meet international standards. For business confidence and foreign investment, that removal actually matters.
Where the system is still visibly failing
The Gupta brothers are still in the UAE. As of early 2026 the extradition process remains stalled, with no timeline for resolution. Nothing undermines confidence in accountability quite like watching the most prominent beneficiaries of state capture simply wait it out abroad.
Whistleblower protection is another area where the gap between intention and reality is glaring. The Zondo Commission explicitly flagged this as critical, but legislative reforms remain in discussion or delayed as of 2025. Without meaningful protection for people who speak up, the culture of impunity reproduces itself.
There are also concerns about whether the NPA is truly independent in the ways that matter most. Critics point out that the President’s use of “Practice and Guidelines” rather than binding legislation for key appointments leaves the institution exposed to exactly the kind of political interference the Zondo Commission was meant to prevent.
And at the local level, the Auditor-General’s 2024/25 reports continue to show widespread corruption across municipalities, with very few clean audits. This is where most South Africans actually encounter government, so the gap between national reform efforts and local dysfunction is felt directly.
The bigger picture
The Government of National Unity has added an interesting dynamic. Opposition parties within the GNU have already challenged certain ministers’ budgets over corruption concerns, which is actually the oversight function working, even if it creates friction. Whether the GNU holds together long enough to see reform efforts through is a different question.
What we have right now is a country that has built better institutions on paper, secured some meaningful legislative wins, and won back some international credibility, but hasn’t yet produced the kind of high-profile accountability moments that shift public perception. Prosecutions are moving slowly. The biggest names remain out of reach. And at the ground level, corruption in service delivery continues largely unchanged.
The foundations are being laid. Whether the building actually goes up depends on what happens in the next few years with the cases that are still pending and the reforms that are still stalled.
What’s your read on where this is heading? Particularly interested in whether anyone thinks the FATF removal will have a noticeable effect on investment or whether the CPI stagnation will cancel that out.