President Thabo Mbeki has hit out at the Transparency International corruption index — which last week berated SA for the country's high corruption levels — saying that the methodology used in the survey was flawed.

Such reports tended to create a negative perception among global investors wanting to do business in SA, he said.

Transparency International has authored more than 60 studies, including a dozen on African countries, using a National Integrity Systems research method that caters for comprehensive civil society assessments of corruption and efforts to combat corruption.

This year's rating means SA has not moved from its position of 36 since 2002 — which it shared with Tunisia, Lithuania and Belarus.

It was 12 places below neighbouring Botswana, which was the highest-placed African country at 24.

"We need to ask the question whether it is correct that important bodies such as Transparency International should rate corruption levels in any country, including ours, on the basis of the tools and surveys that are based on perceptions," Mbeki told an anticorruption conference in Pretoria yesterday.

He said people should take note that the report called for a recognition that "perceptions do not necessarily reflect the actual experience of corruption in the country".

"The premise that levels of corruption in SA are high, needs to be tested … this is what the report says," Mbeki said.

He said corruption was inimical to development.

It constrained the country's ability to fight poverty, negatively affected economic development, damaged social values and undermined democracy and good governance.

He said corruption was "a handy label, used arbitrarily by commentators, politicians, the media and those who have one or another axe to grind".

Mbeki said in some instances allegations of corruption were rarely substantiated.

Transparency International's regional office in Botswana could not be reached for comment.

With acknowledgements to Hopewell Radebe and the Business Day.

Although corruption in this country is not at bad as in central Africa, it is really, really bad - a lot of it going under the guise of bumiputera.

But as the wise Chinese say, the fish rots from the head down.

At the political level, there is mainly lip service to effectively fighting in this country.

More important is the room to "cut some bucks", presumably to facilitate the splodging of wonga.