Poor South Africans think it impossible not to pay bribes, survey finds
Nearly half of poorer South Africans do not believe it possible to get by without paying bribes, a survey sponsored by Massmart and its US principal Walmart found. A third of respondents said they know someone who had a bribe demanded from them in the past year. The survey, conducted by The Ethics Institute, found the top five reasons for resorting to bribery are to avoid traffic offences (36%); to secure a job (18%); to obtain a driver’s licence (15%); to get a tender (7%); and to receive unauthorised discounts from business (4%). The 2016 citizen bribery survey found the average bribe amount was R2,200, which is R195 higher than in 2015. Of the respondents who earn less than R100,000 a year, 48% said they needed to pay bribes to navigate daily life in SA. This narrowed to 27% for people who earn more than R500,000 a year. Lower income groups are 17% more vulnerable to paying bribes for jobs, while those with an income of more than R500,000 in turn experienced 16% more tender bribe...
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