Country: South Africa

London, March 19th – The 2025 Government Defence Integrity Index (GDI) released today by Transparency International Defence & Security reveals that all 17 countries assessed in Sub-Saharan Africa face a high to critical risk of corruption in their defence and security sectors.

Countries that score poorly in the GDI have weak or non-existent safeguards against defence sector corruption and are more likely to experience conflict, instability and human rights abuses.

The results come as the region faces persistent security threats, political instability and growing militarisation, with defence budgets under increasing pressure and oversight often failing to keep pace.

The GDI assesses and scores countries across five risk areas: financial, operational, personnel, political, and procurement, before assigning an overall score. The 2025 assessment covers 17 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. It uses the following scale:

Key findings

• All 17 countries assessed fall into bands D to F, indicating a high to critical risk of defence sector corruption across Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Military operations are the highest-risk area, with a regional average score of just 12/100 (Band F). 71% of assessed countries face critical corruption risk in this area. None of the 17 countries have a military doctrine that addresses corruption risks at the strategic, operational and tactical levels.
• Financial transparency is severely constrained, with a regional average of 29/100 (Band E). Almost 90% of countries fall into the high to critical risk category for financial risk. Defence institutions frequently invoke national security to justify secrecy around budgets and spending.
• Defence procurement is a systemic high-risk area, with a regional average of 24/100 (Band E). Procurement frameworks exist but are often undermined by purchases misaligned with defence priorities, limited competition and weak enforcement.

 

Dr Patrick Brobbey, GDI Research Manager, Transparency International Defence and Security, said:

“These findings paint a stark picture of defence governance across Sub-Saharan Africa. Corruption risks are high to critical in every country we assessed, and the weakest area – military operations – is exactly where the stakes for civilian populations are highest.

We urge all governments featured in this Index to act on these findings. They must open up defence budgets to proper scrutiny, strengthen parliamentary oversight and give civil society a genuine seat at the table. Without that, corruption will continue to eat away at the security these institutions are supposed to provide.”

Military operations: the highest corruption risk area

Military operations record the lowest scores of any risk area in the 2025 GDI assessment of Sub-Saharan Africa, with a regional average of just 12/100 (Band F). The GDI assesses the strength of anti-corruption safeguards in military deployments, whether deploying troops for internal security purposes or sending them on a peacekeeping mission overseas.

None of the 17 assessed countries have a military doctrine that addresses corruption risks in peace and conflict operations at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels. Accountability mechanisms during deployments are weak or absent, and limited transparency during operations creates opportunities for misuse of resources.

This absence of corruption controls poses serious questions for a region facing persistent internal security threats and unconstitutional changes of government. Where anti-corruption safeguards in operations are absent, troops are far more likely to contribute to conflict than to contain it.

Several countries assessed in this wave are significant contributors to United Nations and African Union missions. The weakness of corruption safeguards in military operations challenges the work of governments and international organisations supporting Sub-Saharan African armed forces in peacekeeping and security cooperation.

Dr Francesca Grandi, Director of Transparency International Defence and Security, said:

“Of the 17 countries we assessed, not one has military doctrine that treats corruption as an operational risk. That is a critical gap. When troops deploy without anti-corruption safeguards, the consequences are paid by the civilians they are supposed to protect, through extortion, abuse, and the erosion of local trust that insurgencies exploit. Governments and their partners cannot continue treating this as a second-order problem. It is a protection failure, and rising defence budgets will compound it.”

Oversight, transparency and civic space

The 2025 GDI finds large shortcomings in oversight of defence institutions, financial and procurement transparency, and the protection and inclusion of civic space. Whilst oversight institutions formally exist across most of the 17 countries assessed, they often function with limited authority. Executive dominance frequently constrains parliamentary oversight of defence institutions, while restricted access to information prevents legislatures and audit bodies from properly scrutinising defence spending and activities.

Defence institutions frequently invoke national security to justify withholding budget information, and even where legal frameworks for transparency exist, there are large gaps between what is required on paper and what is actually implemented.

Access to information on defence procurement is also poor across the board. Open competition is rare, auditing is limited, and 11 of the 17 countries have strong legal frameworks on paper that are not implemented in practice.

Severely restricted civic space further adds to the limited oversight capacities: 76% of assessed countries have very weak to no civic space at all, meaning civil society is largely shut out of defence policy discussions and lacks the access to information needed to scrutinise budgets and hold defence institutions to account.

Without stronger oversight, greater transparency and meaningful space for civil society engagement, corruption in the defence sector will continue to undermine security and divert public resources away from those who need them most.

END

Notes to editors

See the full results at https://ti-defence.org/gdi/

 

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This three-page fact sheet defines Private Military and Security Companies and outlines the required response.

 20^th March 2018, London – The re-opening of corruption charges against former South African President  Jacob Zuma, relating to a 1999 arms deal, are a welcome step and should mark the beginning of justice finally being served, according to Transparency International Defence & Security.

Research from Corruption Watch UK into the scandal known as the ‘Arms Deal’ suggests billions of taxpayers money was squandered – at a time when the South African government claimed that there were insufficient funds to treat thousands of citizens for AIDS.

Andrew Watson, Head of Industry Integrity at Transparency International Defence & Security, said:

“We warmly welcome the news that Jacob Zuma may now finally face justice for his crimes. It’s a shame that these charges took him to leave office for a prosecution to take place – but it is encouraging that his crimes may now finally be catching up with him.”

“Jacob Zuma and the companies alleged to have paid bribes to him have escaped justice for many years. These charges must now finally shed some light on one of the largest defence corruption scandals ever seen and result in robust prison sentences for those found to have been involved.”

***ENDS***

Contact:

Dominic Kavakeb
020 3096 7695
079 6456 0340
dominic.kavakeb@transparency.org.uk