SA drops on corruption perception index

South Africa's score on a global corruption perception index has dropped from last year's 4.6 to 4.5 out of a perfect ten, Transparency International announced today. The country retained its rank of 46th in the world, although the pool of countries measured increased from 146 to 159, said Peter Eigen, the organisation's chairman.

"The reduction is negligible, it has no significance at all," Eigen said. He described President Thabo Mbeki's recent axing of his corruption-accused deputy Jacob Zuma as an encouraging sign. "It must have been a painful decision. In many places in the world people would shy away from decisions like that."

South Africa was ranked third among the least corruptly perceived African countries, trumped by Tunisia in second place with 4.9 and Botswana in first with 5.9.

Sectors in South Africa most at risk included construction, energy and arms supply, Eigen said. The index reflects the corruption perceptions of business people and country analysts - resident and non-resident. Of the 159 countries weighed, 70% scored five or less out of ten, "which means that in most of the world we still face serious corruption problems", Eigen said. About 70 countries scored three or less. - Sapa