Political and bureaucratic corruption during President Jacob Zuma's first term in office : causes, consequences and measurements.

Abstract

Political and bureaucratic corruption is at the core of the South African political debate in the current juncture. The suggestion that there has been failure by government to deal with political corruption is popular and critics of the ruling party have been vocal in that regard. The effectiveness of the constitutional measures to curb political corruption has also been frequently questioned in South Africa. What triggers this research is the desire to ascertain whether corruption levels have changed during President Zuma’s tenure. Using qualitative methods of research which involves examining, analyzing and interpreting various secondary data, this study focuses on current South African affairs, particularly President Zuma’s tenure, exploring the root causes and examining the consequences of political corruption. Establishing the causes and consequences of corruption is of much importance in the study of corruption as remedies for reducing incidences of corruption stem from such studies. While measuring corruption has proven to be a challenging task in the study of corruption, the need to further interrogate the methods of measuring corruption is significant for understanding and testing theories related to corruption. To achieve its objectives, this dissertation looks into incidences or cases of political corruption in South Africa during President Zuma’s tenure in order to establish the damaging effects of political corruption as well as the effectiveness of the government in dealing with such cases.