The Ibrahim Index found that South Africa's governance structure has deteriorated since 2014. (Bloomberg via Getty Images)
According to the 2024 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) report, South Africa will be ranked fourth in governance across the African continent in 2023, with Seychelles being the best performing and most improved country. Ta.
The index, released on Wednesday, includes the latest edition of a biennial dataset that assesses the governance performance and trends of 54 African countries from 2014 to 2023.
Compiled from 49 independent sources, including data commissioned by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the report analyzes 322 variables categorized into 96 indicators divided into 16 subcategories and four main categories. Based on. Participation, rights and inclusion. Foundations of Economic Opportunity. and human development.
Thirteen countries – the Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Somalia, Togo and Zambia, which account for approximately 20.5% of the African continent's population – have made progress over the past 10 years, and by 2019 Since then, the pace has accelerated.
However, governance has deteriorated since 2014 in 11 countries – Botswana, Burkina Faso, Eswatini, Guinea, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia and Uganda, where around 29.3% of the population lives.
The report warned that the pace of governance had worsened in the second half of the decade.
Regarding South Africa's governance structure since 2014, the report found that there has been a tendency for the deterioration to slow down since 2014.
“At the overall governance level, there has been a trend towards slower deterioration since 2014, with South Africa ranking fourth in 2023 with a slightly lower score than in 2014,” the report states. The reason is not stated.
South Africa ranked 10th in infrastructure in 2023, registering the largest decline across the continent in this subcategory, down -2.1 points since 2014.
Despite significant improvements in indicators regarding access to the Internet and computers, mobile communications, and energy, public perception of infrastructure is declining at a much faster rate of -34.9.
South Africa and Gambia are the only two countries that are lagging behind in infrastructure development.
However, South Africa and Mauritius remain the two top performers in Africa's business and working environment, with Rwanda gradually catching up. In all three countries, these include economic diversification, business and competition regulation.
It received scores of 73.4 and 94.5 on the best-performing metrics, respectively.
Regarding anti-corruption, Angola improved by +17.9, while other high-scoring countries recorded significant declines: Botswana (-15.8), South Africa (-11.2) and Mauritius (-5.0).
The index reports recent improvements in health and education outcomes, which it says “reflect increased investment in these sectors across Africa.”
Countries such as Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Cape Verde and Lesotho each allocate more than 10% of their GDP to health and education.
“This level of commitment is essential for progress, but significant challenges remain, particularly in closing funding gaps,” the report said.
According to estimates by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, total education spending in Africa increased by 2% in 2021, mainly due to government contributions, which accounted for 69% of the total.
However, African governments spend an average of 3.7% of GDP on education, still short of the recommended 4%.
The top 10 scoring countries have followed divergent trajectories, with Morocco being the only country that has been able to accelerate its improvement over the past decade, while Mauritius, Botswana and Tunisia are likely to worsen.
“IIAG 2024 is a solemn reminder of the threat that deepening security crises and a diminished participatory environment pose to the continent's progress,” said Mo Ibrahim, founder and chairman of the foundation.
He highlighted that the three indicators that worsened the most from 2014 to 2023 relate to economic opportunities, security and security, social protection and public perception of livelihood poverty.
The index said weak data hampered the measurement of key subcategories such as education and the rural economy.
The report warns that critical governance data gaps remain regarding the informal economy, health structures and capacity, child labor, illicit financial flows, the prevalence of discrimination and hate crimes, disability, recycling and waste management did.
