By Janine Erasmus
South Africa, as it does every year, observed Human Rights Day on 21 March under the month-long theme of A Legacy of Courage: Protecting Rights, Preserving Humanity.
In his address on the day, President Cyril Ramaphosa surprised nobody when he said corruption was one of the biggest obstacles and challenges to improving the lives of millions who still wait for their constitutionally mandated basic human rights to be realised – 30 years after the arrival of democracy..
“Corruption, administrative weaknesses, and resource constraints have slowed the pace at which constitutional commitments have been translated into tangible improvements in people’s lives,” Ramaphosa said, echoing what civil society organisations, the media, and ordinary people have been pointing out for years. “These shortcomings have contributed to us not being as far along the journey as we had hoped to be.”
Everyone in society must co-operate with law enforcement, the president added, to root out the corruption that deprives people of goods and services that are their due.
South Africans are no strangers to these sentiments. They are repeated on a regular basis, to no apparent effect – but we can at least be reassured that corruption is still very much in the public discourse.
However, the other tragedy of corruption is that it has to a significant degree been avoidable all along, and would still be largely avoidable with the determined application of political and personal will and fitting consequences for culprits. The problem arises when those controlling public or private money that does not belong to them adopt a mindset that puts personal benefit at the top of the list of priorities, and are allowed to get away with it.
“Corruption is not some vast impersonal and inevitable force. It is a crime committed by people who decide to break the rules for their own gain,” said Antonio Maria Costa, former executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, back in 2007.
How has corruption deepened this situation?
The intersection of human rights and corruption is easy to spot. It is all around us, in all facets of society – when medical or clinic staff ask for bribes before examining a patient or dispensing vital medication, people’s constitutional right to health is immediately undermined. When building regulations are bypassed, there is great danger that people will be hurt or lose the very right to life that the Constitution prescribes. When the police service and criminal justice system as a whole is perceived to be highly corrupt, people’s constitutional right to safety and security is compromised.
When the resources meant for the provision of services affecting human rights are diverted, those services cannot be provided. The failure of local municipalities to deliver on their mandate to provide reliable basic services, and the continued corruption, nepotism, mismanagement of public money, and other transgressions, means that residents’ quality of life declines and they are deprived of dignity and other fundamental human rights to which they are entitled.
Meanwhile the perpetrators of these ills, and more, live comfortably in their well-appointed and -supplied homes, drive safely in their luxury cars, send their children to the best schools and universities, and watch their bank balances climb steadily.
Corruption inextricably tied to the provision of human rights
When corruption intersects with the basic human rights that are boldly enshrined in the Constitution – such as the right to equality and human dignity, the right to a healthy environment, the right to own property, the right to education, and the right to enjoy healthcare, food, water, and social security, among others – it affects the most vulnerable and marginalised in our society in the most merciless of ways.
According to the latest Household Affordability Index, released in February 2026, monetary poverty – defined as the position of living below a specific income or consumption threshold, usually measured by comparing household earnings against a national or international poverty line – affects millions who live below one or all of the three national poverty lines drawn by Stats SA.
These are:
- the food poverty line of R855 – the amount needed for the minimum daily energy intake. Individuals below this line cannot afford enough food, even if they spend all their money on it. This accounts for 20.8% of people (mostly black South Africans).
- the lower-bound poverty line of R1 300 – this represents households that have enough for food but not for non-food items like clothing or shelter, accounting for 43.8% of people.
- the upper-bound poverty line – this represents households which cannot afford to buy both adequate food and non-food items, accounting for 74.8% of people.
Corruption, and the resultant denial of basic services and rights, is so much a contributing factor to this situation and other similar situations around the world, in fact, that during its 59th session held in July 2025, the UN General Assembly formally linked corruption to the violation of fundamental human rights. The organisation’s Human Rights Council adopted a resolution titled The negative impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rights. The move was led by Morocco – who introduced the draft text before the council – Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Poland, and the UK.
“Those who choose a career in public life must critically consider their motives,” said Ramaphosa on Human Rights Day. “Do they truly want to serve the South African people, or is public office simply a means to self-enrichment?”
