A qualitative reframing of private sector corruption Considerations from the natural resource sectors in South Africa

Abstract

This paper reviews types of private sector corruption in South Africa in order to provide suggestions for the design of anti-corruption policies in the natural resource sectors. It uses qualitative research to explore how corruption is framed by respondents and performed by market actors. The currently used concept of private sector corruption does not cover new types of corruption that have emerged in response to the increasing complexity of the public-private boundary and the effects of more liberalized markets. Moreover, transparency initiatives are largely ineffective in cases such as South Africa, where the market and state are entwined and political connection is a critical gatekeeper for economic opportunity. The paper advocates both redefinition of the concept of corruption and reform of the process of policy design in anti-corruption work. The two are related: the redefinition suggestedwould advance the important debate over how the global community defines acceptable behaviour in the private sector by providing a usable foundational morality.