Tracking social attitudes towards corruption: a bottom-up approach to strengthening accountability

Corruption remains one of the most pressing national challenges and an obstacle to achieving a developmental, capable, and ethical state in South Africa. The National Anti-Corruption Strategy aims to fight corruption through a focused whole-of-society approach and encourage active citizen participation in the fight against corruption. How can we encourage active citizen participation? Measuring social attitudes towards corruption helps us answer this question. Two large-scale, nationally representative public opinion surveys were conducted in 2023 and 2025 to examine how South Africans understand, experience, and respond to corruption. The surveys assessed, among other things, direct and indirect encounters with corruption, perceptions of its impact on society, and willingness to report corrupt practices. This policy brief draws on in-depth research reports produced by the HSRC and highlights both the importance and value of tracking social attitudes towards corruption.