The number of corruption allegations reported to Corruption Watch that were later confirmed to be acts of corruption increased from 38% in 2012 to 58% in 2013, an upturn the nonprofit organisation described as “unsurprising”.

“The latest data shows that the organisation’s role and the definition of corruption are now better understood. In 2012, we had 3 223 reports of alleged corruption, which mostly fell outside of our area of focus.

“The latest data indicates that people understand that Corruption Watch is here to amplify the public’s voice on abuse of public resources instead of dealing with consumer or labour disputes,” commented executive director David Lewis.

Since January 2012, Corruption Watch had received 5 485 reports of alleged corruption, with 2 262 of these reported in 2013.

In a report released on Thursday, which profiled the landscape of corruption in South Africa in 2013, Corruption Watch noted that the majority of people who reported corruption to the organisation were black men, aged between 30 and 59, and mainly employed in public service.

About 37% of corruption reporters had completed secondary education, while 44% had tertiary education. Most were employed or self-employed and more than half of these worked in the public sector.

“The reporting trends from 2012 and 2013 by province have slightly shifted, with Gauteng topping the provincial charts at 38%, down from 46% in 2012.

“KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape followed closely with 13%, both up from 10% and 8% respectively. The Free State is the only province where there was a significant increase from 7% in 2012 to 14% in 2013,” said Lewis.

A “massive” 77% of the people who chose to report to Corruption Watch said they did so because they did not know of any other organisation to report to.

Some 53% of the corruption reporters had previously presented their cases to organisations such as national and provincial government departments and, most commonly, to the Public Protector or South African Police Service, but did not receive the assistance they expected.

Asked to explain their reasons for reporting to Corruption Watch, 48% said they felt morally obliged to report and believed it was the right thing to do, while 28% said they reported because they believed South African laws required them to do so.

“Most striking was the 59% who said they reported corruption as they felt confident we were capable of combatting corruption. This is consistent with the findings of Transparency International’s 2013 Global Corruption Barometer that 89% of South Africans were willing to join in fighting corruption.

“This is very encouraging. We believe there are more people who wish to engage constructively in combatting corruption. It is now the right time for us to expand the spaces for people to use their collective voices to speak against corruption and hold leaders accountable,” noted Lewis.