corruption in south africa includes the private use of public resources, bribery, and improper favoritism. the 2017 transparency international corruption perceptions index assigned south africa an index of 43 out of 100, ranking south africa 71 out of 180 countries. this ranking represents a downward direction change with a drop of two points down from 45 (2016 cpi). countries with scores below 50 are believed to have a serious corruption problems. recent scandals surfacing since 2016 involving former south african president jacob zuma have drawn attention to corruption in south africa. cyril ramaphosa, the newly elected south african president, has vowed to root out existing corruption and further the development of anti-corruption initiatives. south africa has corruption