Professor Dr Omphemetse S Sibanda is a Professor of Law and the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Management and Law at the University of Limpopo. He holds a Doctor of Laws (in International Economic Law) from North West University, a Master of Laws from Georgetown University Law Centre, US; and an LLB (Hon) and B Juris from the then Vista University, Soweto Campus.

It is only fair to acknowledge that, under the current government, South Africa's anti-corruption campaigns have achieved unprecedented momentum. There are good stories to tell, including closer collaboration between the National Prosecuting Authority's Asset Forfeiture Unit and the Special Investigating Unit, as part of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy.

In anticipation of the 2022 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report released by Transparency International on Tuesday, I expected that South Africa's Corruption Perception score would have changed significantly. My optimism was based particularly on the monumental clean-up investigations relating to the Zondo Commission, and the first State Capture trial in the case of the Vrede Dairy Project.

The 2022 CIP report generally shows that the pandemic of corruption will linger for many years and that some countries' CPI levels have stagnated (the scale used is that a score...