Individual Corruption

There are numerous cases of citizens obtaining fraudulent housing subsidies administered at the provincial level. People have successfully applied for grants using invalid identity documents. According to a 2009 article by BuaNews, fraudulent activity related to misrepresentation of employment status, income, marital status and spousal income status. Between May 2007 and March 2009, a total of 1962 were found to have fraudulently received housing subsidies valued at R26 million, while 224 officials were found to be overpaid through the subsidy system amounting to over R2.4 million.

Figures from the Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer 2010 illustrate that only a very small percentage of the households who had contact with land administration services in 2009 reported to have paid a bribe.

Business Corruption

Corruption connected to the comprehensive land reform and redistribution designed to transfer 30% of commercial farmland to black citizens by 2014 has led the government to review procedures within the programme. According to the US Department of State 2010, only 5% of total farmland had been redistributed under the reform programme by 2008. According to a February 2006 article by BuaNews, in the Badplaas area, prices for land earmarked for sale to the government have been fraudulently inflated by an average of 30% by property speculators and farmers. Speculators have purchased rundown vegetable and dairy farms at very low prices only to resell these properties to the government at much higher prices, thus generating massive profits. There are indications that officials at the provincial level have cooperated with property speculators to systematically manipulate sale prices or even bankroll some of the fraudulent transactions. This over-charging is estimated to have cost the government ZAR 20 million in Mpumalanga Province alone.

Political Corruption

In June 2009, the Human Settlement Minister, as cited in a 2009 article by BuaNews, acknowledged that corruption was a major problem in the awarding of housing to the poor. Furthermore, a 2009 article by South Africa: The Good News also reports that in November 2009, the minister cracked down on 923 government officials for their involvement in low-cost housing scams. The minister also stated that the Special Investigation Unit had been asked to conduct a comprehensive investigation of corruption and fraud in the housing department in order to develop a strategy to curb maladministration.

Furthermore, the Human Settlement Minister in August 2010 announced the arrest of 1,910 government officials who have illegally benefited from housing subsidies worth ZAR 44 million, as reported in the US Department of State 2011.

Frequency

The World Bank & IFC: Doing Business 2012:
- Registering property requires a company to go through an average of 6 administrative procedures taking an average of 23 days at a cost of nearly 6% of the property value.

World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012:
- Business executives give the protection of property rights in South Africa, including financial assets, a score of 5.3 on a 7-point scale (1 being 'very weak' and 7 'very strong'), constituting a competitive business advantage for the country.

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2010:
- 3.8% of households who had contact with land administration services in 2009 report to have paid a bribe.