PERCEPTIONS OF DRIVERS OF CORRUPTION IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE

Abstract

Since liberation in 1994, corruption in the civil service has become a matter of increasing concern for South Africa. It has been estimated that corruption could be costing South Africa up to R30 billion a year. The intention of this exploratory, qualitative, research was to gain insight as to what motivated or allowed senior civil servants to behave in a corrupt manner. The research methodology was qualitative in nature, specifically purposive (judgemental) sampling. A main factor identified was a cultural disconnect between how civil servants are expected to behave and their own view of the world. Also, that how corruption is defined needs to be reviewed for different contexts, and that law enforcement needs to be given proper teeth to fight corruption.